Bill Gates is highly skeptical of cryptocurrency, labeling it a "greater fool theory" investment with no intrinsic value. He argues that Bitcoin is environmentally wasteful due to high energy consumption, and has warned average investors to be cautious if they have less money than Elon Musk.
Bill Gates has made it clear—he's not a fan of cryptocurrency. And he's not just skeptical; he flat-out thinks it has no value. "None," he told The New York Times in a January interview. That's a pretty bold stance coming from one of the most successful tech minds in history.
The Wall Street Journal reported that WLFI tokens had a total value of $6 billion in August 2025, and that Trump himself owned two thirds of them.
"That is why Bitcoin is based on energy: you can issue fake fiat currency, and every government in history has done so, but it is impossible to fake energy," Musk wrote on X.
Ricardo Benjamín Salinas Pliego, a billionaire from Mexico and one of the three richest people in the country, has put 70% of his wealth in bitcoin.
Why it matters: The Biden administration has never made an explicit point of objection to the crypto industry, but enough evidence has piled up to suggest the government's been using its powers to stymie one specific new industry without making a clear argument to the public.
Investing $100 in Bitcoin about 10 years ago (around late 2015/early 2016) would have turned that initial amount into tens of thousands of dollars, potentially over $30,000, given Bitcoin's massive growth from roughly $300-$400 per coin to over $100,000 by late 2025/early 2026, though exact value depends on the specific purchase price and current market fluctuations, representing an astronomical return but also highlighting Bitcoin's extreme volatility.
Key Takeaways. The IRS treats cryptocurrency as property, meaning that when you buy, sell or exchange it, this counts as a taxable event and typically results in either a capital gain or loss. When you earn income from cryptocurrency activities, this is taxed as ordinary income.
Although the digital currency is widely recognized and has had extraordinary moments like recently hitting $100,000 in value for the first time, Buffett is not a fan.
Meta $META (META) co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is ambitious about experimenting with cryptocurrency. His company once ventured into cryptocurrency development with a project called Diem, initially known as Libra. However, mounting regulatory pressures forced the premature shutdown of the initiative.
Crypto payments offer advantages such as high transfer speeds, low transaction costs, and cross-border access, making space travel more accessible. Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin has taken a historic step in both space tourism and the digital finance world by integrating crypto payments.
Bitcoin price prediction by 2040
Based on your prediction that Bitcoin will change at a rate of 5% every year, the price of Bitcoin would be $97,556.55 in 2027, $118,580.60 in 2031, $151,342.23 in 2036, and $193,155.30 in 2041.
Standard Chartered's Geoff Kendrick conceded Tuesday that Bitcoin will not reach his $200,000 target by the end of the year–a forecast he has stood by for over a year. Instead, he now expects Bitcoin to hit $100,000 by the end of 2025.
A programmer named Laszlo Hanyecz famously bought two pizzas with 10,000 Bitcoin on May 22, 2010, marking the first real-world commercial use of the cryptocurrency, an event celebrated as "Bitcoin Pizza Day". At the time, the Bitcoins were worth only about $41, but today that same amount is worth over $1 billion, making it arguably the most expensive pizza ever bought. Hanyecz sees it as a successful experiment to show Bitcoin's utility, and he has expressed no regrets, finding it "pretty cool" that it helped establish Bitcoin as a currency.
Despite extreme volatility, Bitcoin's price has skyrocketed 1,060% in the past five years as I write this. This monster gain would've turned a $10,000 initial capital outlay in October 2020 to a whopping $115,700 on Oct. 6.
The New Liberty Standard Exchange recorded the first exchange of Bitcoin for dollars in late 2009. Users on the BitcoinTalk forum traded 5,050 bitcoins for $5.02 via PayPal, making the first price mediated through an exchange a bargain basement price of $0.00099 per bitcoin.
Government incentives and financial stability concerns mean cryptocurrencies are not going to replace fiat currencies in the vast majority of countries despite their growing popularity, even if stablecoins will create greater competition for traditional currencies in countries characterized by monetary instability.