Here's what Bill Gates has to say about cryptocurrencies

In an AMA (ask me anything) session on social media website Reddit on Wednesday, Microsoft founder Bill Gates said that cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are killing people in “a fairly direct way”.

Gates alluded to the use of cryptocurrencies for buying illegal drugs like fentanyl and said that the anonymity it provides is not a good thing.

“The main feature of cryptocurrencies is their anonymity. I don't think this is a good thing. The government’s ability to find money laundering and tax evasion and terrorist funding is a good thing,” Bill Gates said.

“Right now cryptocurrencies are used for buying fentanyl and other drugs so it is a rare technology that has caused deaths in a fairly direct way. I think the speculative wave around ICOs and cryptocurrencies is super risky for those who go long.”

Bill Gates was answering one user who asked for his opinion on cryptocurrencies. However, another user was direct in expressing his disagreement to Gates. "You know what else is used to fund terrorism, buy fentanyl and other drugs? The USD," the user wrote.

Also Read: Billionaire Bill Gates admits that 'he should pay more taxes'

Talking about his top three goals currently, Gates said that they include “reducing childhood death and malnutrition and ending polio.” Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, of which Gates is co-chair, is working in many underdeveloped and developing countries.

On being asked if he misses anything from the time in Microsoft, his answer was the rush and competition. “There was a certain urgency to everything we were doing to stay ahead that meant the speed of activity was very high. I miss this a bit. I had to take Think Weeks twice a year just to step back and see what the longer term trends were. Now I work on things like malaria where I wish there was more competition to solve the problems and things moved faster,” he said.

Gates said that the automation was a “great thing” and eventually it will make sure that we don’t have to work so much in future. “But we are still at least a generation away from a big change there,” he added.

Also Read: It’s not fair that we have so much wealth: Bill and Melinda Gates

Gates was candid in answering questions posed by the users of Reddit. In a query which asked if he had been equally successful had he been born in a low-income family, Gates answer was negative.

“I benefited from having a great education - public schools through 6th grade and then a great private School (Lakeside). So there is a good chance I would never have gotten turned on to software and math the way I did and therefore not as successful,” he said.