Oops! Bill Gates Reveals He Isn’t A Big Fan Of NFTs, Bored Ape Yacht Club

While Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, has always been one of the most prominent voices in technology, it appears that he isn’t all too fond of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and in particular, the most iconic collection to date: Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC).

While the series’ digital assets now cost in the hundreds of thousands, and even collaborated with sportswear giant Adidas, Gates doesn’t seem too impressed with the hype surrounding the virtual tokens. 

In a recent talk with TechCrunch, Gates said that despite the market growing by US$22 billion in 2021, NFTs are “100% based on greater fool theory.” Yikes. 

“It has at its heart this anonymity through which you can avoid taxation, any sort of government rules. Anyway, I’m not involved in that,” he explained. 

The billionaire even took a direct swipe at the ardent fans of BAYC, sarcastically saying that “expensive digital images of monkeys” were going to benefit the world.

As expected, his comments have drawn ire from some in the industry, with famed NFT artist Beeple—whose creation sold for US$69 million—retweeting a screenshot of an article with numerous “thinking” emojis. 

Is Gates right, or will NFTs prove to have value in the years to come? Take a look at the video and decide for yourself. 

Bill Gates tells us what he really thinks of Bored Apes at #TCClimate: pic.twitter.com/vBc8BaaTup

— TechCrunch (@TechCrunch) June 14, 2022

[via ARTnews and TechCrunch, cover image via Frédéric Legrand | Dreamstime.com]