Bitcoin News and Finance
Billionaire Tim Draper Urges Sri Lanka to Adopt Bitcoin — Central Bank Says ‘We Don’t Want to Make the Crisis Worse’ Skip to main content

Billionaire Tim Draper Urges Sri Lanka to Adopt Bitcoin — Central Bank Says ‘We Don’t Want to Make the Crisis Worse’

Billionaire Tim Draper Urges Sri Lanka to Adopt Bitcoin — Central Bank Says 'We Don't Want to Make the Crisis Worse'

Billionaire investor and venture capitalist Tim Draper has reportedly attempted to convince the Sri Lankan government to adopt bitcoin. However, the governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka rejected his recommendation, emphasizing: “Adoption of 100% bitcoin won’t be a Sri Lanka reality ever.”

Tim Draper Suggests Sri Lanka Adopts Bitcoin

Billionaire investor and venture capitalist Tim Draper reportedly tried to convince the Sri Lankan government and central bank to adopt bitcoin during his visit to the south Asian country earlier this week to shoot an episode of his “Meet the Drapers” TV show with local entrepreneurs.

The billionaire met with Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe Tuesday to pitch bitcoin adoption, Bloomberg reported, adding that he then visited the Sri Lankan central bank the next day with the same pitch.

Wearing a bitcoin tie, Draper was quoted as saying: “I come to the central bank with decentralized currency.” However, Sri Lankan Central Bank Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe replied:

We don’t accept … Adoption of 100% bitcoin won’t be a Sri Lanka reality ever.

Sri Lanka’s fuel and food shortages led to riots last year. The president at the time fled the debt-ridden country and later resigned. Sri Lanka’s key inflation rate stood at 54.2% in January, and last year the economy contracted by 8%, the governor detailed.

Draper told the central bank chief that he is “a little worried about you guys,” elaborating:

Have you seen Sri Lanka in the news? It’s known as the corruption capital. A country known for corruption will be able to keep perfect records with the adoption of bitcoin.

The billionaire VC continued to try to convince Weerasinghe during their 30-minute meeting. He even cited El Salvador, which became the first country to adopt bitcoin as legal tender alongside the U.S. dollar in September 2021.

“Does the administration have the guts to do it?” Draper asked the Sri Lankan central bank governor as he pushed for bitcoin adoption. “What’s the advantage of having your own currency?”

However, Weerasinghe replied:

We don’t want to make the crisis worse by introducing bitcoin.

Draper has pitched bitcoin adoption to several other countries and received better responses than he did from the Sri Lankan government and central bank. The tiny island country of Palau in the Pacific, for example, made him the founding resident of its digital-residency program.

The billionaire has long been bullish about bitcoin due to the cryptocurrency’s trait as a hedge against inflation. In November last year, he predicted that BTC should hit $250K by mid-2023.

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka has cautioned the public several times about the risks of investing in cryptocurrencies. In July last year, the central bank published a notice warning that virtual currencies “are considered as unregulated financial instruments and have no regulatory oversight or safeguards relating to their usage in Sri Lanka.” The authority added that it “has not given any license or authorization to any entity or company to operate schemes involving virtual currencies, including cryptocurrencies.”

Do you think Sri Lanka should adopt bitcoin as billionaire Tim Draper has suggested? Let us know in the comments section below.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Custodial Lightning Network Service Attack Discovered by LN ‘Newbie’ — Hacker Strikes 6 LN Custodians

On September 18, a Redditor posted to the r/bitcoin forum and explained how he discovered a way to “attack [the] lightning Network’s custodial services.” The Reddit account dubbed “Reckless Satoshi” wanted to figure out if a “discrepancy between real routing fees and service’s transaction fee can be exploited for a profit.” The researcher disclosed that he wanted to see how large the damage could be and said “it is bad.” 6 Lightning Network Custodial Services Attacked, Researcher Discloses Findings to Offenders Prior to Public Disclosure A Redditor called Reckless Satoshi published a disclosure post on r/bitcoin this past Saturday and disclosed how he had found a vulnerability with routing fees and some of the Lightning Network’s custodial services. The research attack was done in good faith and after it was complete he disclosed the bugs to the offending services before publishing his findings. Reckless Satoshi used the Lightning Network (LN) attack on six different services incl...
Post a Comment
Read more

Axie Infinity Down 40% Since Last Week’s Price High, Protocol Revenue Outshines Competitors

Last week, the game token leveraged within the Axie Infinity gaming universe skyrocketed to all-time highs, while other crypto markets remained extremely lackluster. During the last seven days, Axie Infinity’s platform token has dropped significantly in value shedding more than 12%. Meanwhile, the game platform’s smooth love potion token has slid over 8% over the last 24 hours. Axie Infinity Down More Than 40% Since All-Time High Not too long ago, the axie infinity (AXS) token was a topical conversation because it reached an all-time high on July 15. At the time, AXS managed to capture $28.93 per unit and since then it has shed 12.8% during the last seven days. The axie infinity (AXS) token is used within the blockchain-based game that involves battles between token-based creatures called “Axies.” AXS is used for the game’s governance system as well as other actions within the game. At the time of writing axie infinity (AXS) is exchanging hands for $16.70 per coin. AXS/USD on Ju...
Post a Comment
Read more

Play-to-Earn Game From Polker (PKR) Exchange Listing – Endorsed by Akon

The Play-to-Earn NFT based Polker.Game ‘s native token $PKR has been officially listed on the popular centralized exchange BitMart. Polker.game has been in the spotlight recently as Akon, the American R&B superstar and record producer gave his official endorsement of polker stating that the “game is revolutionary” and that Polker is “hands down.. the best play to earn, NFT game in the space.”. With the BitMart listing and celebrity endorsement from Akon, Polker is perfectly positioned to become a major player in the Play-to-Earn league. Watch Akon’s Video Here What is Play-to-Earn? Although not a new concept, play-to-earn has become a trending term due to the popularity of the NFT game AXIE infinity. In the past, previous play-to-earn games have also achieved success – however, thanks to the huge amount of development in the blockchain space in recent years the gaming experience is now massively improved. Play-to-Earn games are essentially free to play and open to anyone and...
Post a Comment
Read more

China to Crack Down on Copyright Infringement Through NFTs

Authorities in China are going after creators of digital collectibles based on other people’s works of art, the use of which was not authorized. The government offensive is part of a campaign to combat online copyright infringement and piracy with the participation of several departments. Regulators in China Move to Strengthen Copyright Supervision of Online Platforms The National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC) has recently launched a campaign against copyright infringement and piracy on the internet, together with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, and the State Internet Information Office of the People’s Republic. A major objective of the initiative is to improve copyright supervision of online businesses by investigating cases involving the sale and distribution of infringing products on short video, live broadcast and e-commerce platforms, and promptly dealing with infringing content, the agency announced in a press r...
Post a Comment
Read more
Blogarama - Blog Directory