Key Takeaways:
- Microsoft co-founder and billionaire Bill Gates has slammed cryptocurrencies, calling them shams
- He also took a jibe at blue-chip NFT project Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC)
- Gates was in conversation with Darrell Etherington during the TechCrunch climate session
YEREVAN (CoinChapter.com) — Microsoft co-founder and billionaire Bill Gates is no fan of Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and other nonfungible tokens (NFT) projects. Moreover, he thinks cryptocurrencies are shams ‘based on the greater-fool theory.’
Speaking at this year’s TechCrunch Session titled ‘Climate 2022’, the once richest man in the world took a special jibe at nonfungible tokens (NFT). Hitting at blue-chip NFT collection Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), he made fun of the project and its supposed utility.
“Obviously, expensive digital images of monkeys are going to improve the world immensely,”
Gates said sarcastically.
Gates has previously stated that he likes investing in asset classes with an output or a company that makes products. Cryptos, according to him, did not add any value to society.
Last year, in an interview with Bloomberg, the Breakthrough Energywarned people about the dangers of investing in cryptocurrencies.
Hitting back at Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s FOMO tweets, he advised people to exercise caution.
“Elon has tons of money and he is very sophisticated. If you have less money than Elon, you should probably watch out,”
Gates allegedly said.
However, Gates is a fan of digital banking technology and calls it “hundreds of times more efficient” than cryptocurrencies.
Recommended: Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) price drops 20% in a day
Monthly NFT sales drop, although BAYC stays afloat
Despite rising in popularity over the recent years, NFTs have taken serious blows from the current bear market.
30-day NFT sales statistics from cryptoslam.io reveal that NFT sales have dropped 65.43% in one month. In April 2022, collectors shelled $4.6 billion for NFTs. However, token sales across 17 blockchains throughout May amounted to only $1.59 billion.
Out of that number, $1.31 billion came from the Ethereum (ETH) chain alone. BAYC NFTs also saw over a 60% drop in monthly sales.
Such numbers are not surprising in bear markets. However, a recent Twitter survey possibly answers why people are turning away from NFTs.
According to the DEXterLab survey respondents, over 64% of investors say they purchased an NFT “to make money.”
Meanwhile, the floor price of Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs has fallen to 83.88 ETH, around $89,000. Despite the dip and the criticism from Bill Gates criticism, BAYC NFTs continue to fetch big bucks.
One investor paid 1,024 ETH or over $1.2 million for BAYC Ape #7537
Data on OpenSea reveals the seller purchased the Ape less than 90 days ago for 102.88 ETH. Provided the sale is genuine, and he didn’t buy it himself, he has made over $900,000 profit from the deal.
Maybe Bill Gates is right when he says digital images of monkeys don’t improve the world. However, those that flip for huge profits would probably.
