While plenty of the scathing criticism aimed at the cryptocurrency world is well deserved, sometimes a jab fails to land. In the midst of the mostly grossly-worded slew of insults that the institutionally rich lobbed at the bitcoin crowd over the weekend, Bill Gates may have landed the furthest from the mark.
“Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are “kind of a pure ‘greater fool theory’ type of investment, Gates told CNBC on Monday. “I would short it if there was an easy way to do it.”
It wasn’t clear if Gates was aware that there is indeed a way to short bitcoin and that he finds it cumbersome or if he just doesn’t really follow this whole crazy cryptocurrency thing at all. Still, that didn’t keep singular Winklevii Tyler Winklevoss from weighing in with what is, dare we say, almost an own.
As Winklevoss noted, last year, the Chicago-based CBOE and CME launched their respective bitcoin futures markets, enabling short selling for bitcoin. Technically, there are other ways too, though the process might be a bit less straightforward than it would be with a more traditional asset. Maybe that’s what Gates meant all along.
Winklevoss, a noted bitcoin bull, runs the Gemini exchange together with his brother Cameron. The pair have been working on getting their plans for cryptocurrency ETFs off the ground after regulatory setbacks last year.
