Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has softened his tone on bitcoin as an investment, but he remains deeply skeptical of cryptocurrency as a broader technological movement. In two separate interviews, Gates said he no longer takes an outright bearish position on bitcoin. Instead, he described his view as neutral, stressing that he neither owns the asset nor bets against it. At the same time, he argued that cryptocurrency, as it works today, facilitates certain criminal activity and may be an innovation the world would be better off without.
Gates shifts from bearish commentary to a neutral market stance
In an interview with CNBC, Gates was asked about bitcoin in the context of climate change, particularly the large amount of energy associated with digital mining. His response was notably restrained compared with his earlier remarks from previous years. Gates said, “I don’t own bitcoin. I’m not short bitcoin. So, I’ve taken a neutral view.”
He went on to explain that bitcoin can rise or fall based on market mania and shifting investor sentiment, and that he does not have a reliable way to predict how those forces will develop. That statement marked a significant change in tone from his past public criticism, when he had openly dismissed bitcoin as an unproductive asset.
Back in 2018, Gates had joined other high-profile skeptics in speaking harshly about bitcoin. At the time, he argued that as an asset class, it “[produces] nothing” and therefore should not be expected to appreciate. He also described it as a textbook example of a “greater fool theory” investment and said he would short it if there were an easy way to do so. According to the source material, bitcoin was trading at around $9,300 on the day of those remarks. By the time of the article’s writing, the price had climbed to $56,805, representing an increase of nearly 511%.
Support for digital payments, but not for opaque or irreversible systems
Although Gates has stepped back from openly attacking bitcoin as a trade, he did not embrace cryptocurrency as a financial model. In the CNBC interview, he drew a distinction between digitizing money and endorsing the current structure of many crypto networks.
Gates said the Gates Foundation has long supported efforts in developing countries to move money into more digital forms and reduce transaction costs. However, he emphasized that these systems should include safeguards that are very different from what many crypto advocates celebrate. Specifically, he said such systems should allow transactions to be reversed and should provide full visibility into who is doing what.
In his framing, digital finance is valuable when it improves efficiency, lowers costs, and remains transparent to the relevant institutions. What he rejects is a system designed in ways that can support tax avoidance or illegal activity. This is a recurring theme in Gates’ commentary: he is not dismissing digital money itself, but rather criticizing forms of digital value transfer that lack accountability and oversight.
Why Gates says the world may not need crypto innovation
In a separate interview with The Wall Street Journal, Gates was asked to name one technological innovation the world would be better off without. His answer was direct: “The way cryptocurrency works today allows for certain criminal activities. It’d be good to get rid of that.”
That comment captures the central reason behind his discomfort with the sector. In Gates’ view, the issue is not innovation for its own sake, but whether a technology delivers public benefit without opening the door to serious misuse. He suggested that the current design and use of cryptocurrency can create opportunities for criminal behavior, making its social value questionable in its present form.
Gates quickly added that he probably should have said bioweapons, noting that this would be an even clearer example of a harmful technological development. Even so, his original answer put cryptocurrency in a category of innovation that, from his perspective, may create more societal risk than benefit.
A long-running tension between crypto markets and mainstream critics
Gates’ latest remarks fit into a broader pattern seen among traditional technology leaders, investors, and policymakers. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have often attracted both praise for financial innovation and criticism over volatility, energy use, criminal abuse, and the absence of centralized safeguards. Gates’ comments touch several of these pressure points at once.
On one hand, his neutral position on bitcoin reflects a recognition that market prices are driven by forces that can exceed the confidence of any one critic. By declining to hold or short the asset, he is essentially acknowledging uncertainty rather than repeating a firm directional call. On the other hand, he remains unconvinced that the crypto model, as currently implemented, aligns with the type of digital financial infrastructure he sees as socially useful.
His view also underscores a divide between speculative adoption and public-interest financial design. Gates appears far more comfortable with systems that reduce payment friction while preserving institutional visibility than with decentralized systems that prioritize censorship resistance, pseudonymity, and irreversibility. For supporters of crypto, those features are often the point. For Gates, they are a source of concern.
Microsoft’s own link to crypto-related technology
The report also noted an interesting detail that complicates the broader narrative: Microsoft has been granted a patent for a “cryptocurrency system using body activity data.” According to the source material, the system involves leveraging human activity, including signals such as brain waves and body heat, while users perform online tasks like using search engines, interacting with chatbots, or reading advertisements.
The existence of such a patent does not mean Gates endorses cryptocurrency as a whole, nor does it directly contradict his skepticism. Still, it highlights the nuanced relationship that major technology companies have had with digital assets and blockchain-related ideas. Even among critics, there can be interest in specific applications, experiments, or intellectual property tied to the field.
What Gates’ position now suggests
Overall, Gates’ latest comments suggest a more measured position on bitcoin’s market behavior and a continued hard line on cryptocurrency’s societal trade-offs. He is no longer presenting himself as an active bitcoin bear. Instead, he is standing aside from the investment debate, acknowledging both the unpredictability of market sentiment and his own lack of conviction in calling the asset’s next move.
Yet that neutrality stops at the investment level. On the question of whether cryptocurrency represents a positive innovation for the world, Gates remains unconvinced. His concern centers on the ways current crypto systems can be used for illicit purposes and the lack of reversibility and transparency that he considers essential in responsible digital finance.
For crypto supporters, those comments will likely reinforce the familiar divide between decentralized financial ideals and the regulatory, humanitarian, and governance priorities favored by mainstream institutions. For critics, Gates’ position may look like a pragmatic middle ground: not necessarily denying bitcoin’s market success, but still questioning whether the broader crypto model deserves to be celebrated as progress.