Bill Gates slams NFT market over "greater fool theory"

NFTs have been having a moment among celebrities and the super-wealthy – but tech billionaire Bill Gates isn't buying it.

For the blissfully unaware, a non-fungible token (NFT) is essentially a 'token' to say you own a digital item. Each NFT has a different level of value and popularity – think of it almost like a digital Pokémon trading card. The highest sale to date was an asset called 'The Merge', which sold at a jaw-dropping $91.8m (£72m).

Speaking at a climate change event hosted byTechCrunch, the Microsoft CEO slammed the online phenomenon and said they were "100 per cent based on greater fool theory," the idea that someone can make money by purchasing overvalued assets. The buyer simply waits for the "bigger idiot" – or "greater fool" if you like – to come along and buy them out.

He shared that he prefers to put his money into companies that make actual products, not NFTs.

“I’m not involved in that. I’m not long or short in any of those things,” he said, before suggesting that he was also suspicious of assets designed to “avoid taxation or any sort of government rules.”

“Obviously, expensive digital images of monkeys are going to improve the world immensely,” Gates added, referring to the Bored Ape Yacht Club that many celebs and sports stars are a part of.

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This isn't the first time Gates has expressed his scepticism toward cryptocurrencies.

Back in a 2021 interview, he expressed concerns about regular investors putting their money into the online currency.

“I do think people get bought into these manias who may not have as much money to spare,” he quipped. “My general thought would be that if you have less money than Elon [Musk], you should probably watch out.”

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