Bill Gates Mocks NFTs & 'Expensive Digital Images of Monkeys'

No matter how much some entrepreneurs try to hype up NFTs, Bill Gates still isn’t sold on the idea.

Source: Taylor Hill / Getty

No matter where you look these days, it seems like every internet personality with a little bit of cash is trying to convince you NFTs are the next big thing. But, here’s one billionaire who isn’t on board with this new business: Bill Gates.

In a new interview for TechCrunch’s Sessions: Climate 2022 event, the Microsoft founder referenced the wildly popular Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection by jokingly suggesting their existence is doing something to improve the state of the world.

“I don’t know, I mean, obviously expensive digital images of monkeys are gonna improve the world immensely,” Gates said. “And that’s so incredible. Anyway, I’m used to asset classes where, like, a farm where they have output or a company where they make products.”

As for his explanation of the phenomenon, Gates says NFTs are “100 percent based on, sort of, greater fool theory” in that “somebody’s gonna pay more for it than I do.” He also went on to criticize what he argued were assets made with the hopes of avoiding “government rules.”

Similarly, on the topic of cryptocurrencies, the businessman suggested he was “not involved” in any of it.

As a billionaire, Bill Gates is obviously anything but relatable–but it’s nice to see a public figure not pushing NFTs down our throat, for once.