Billionaire investor and venture capitalist Tim Draper Reportedly, he sought to persuade Sri Lankan authorities to adopt bitcoin. However, the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka declined and underlined: “100% bitcoin adoption will never be a reality in Sri Lanka.”
Tim Draper Pushes Sri Lanka To Embrace Bitcoin
Billionaire investor and venture capitalist Tim Draper Reportedly, he tried to convince Sri Lankan authorities and central bank to accept bitcoin during his trip to the South Asian nation earlier this week to film an episode of his talk show “Meet the Drapers” with local businessmen.
The billionaire met with Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Tuesday to push for bitcoin adoption, according to Bloomberg. He also delivered the same speech at the central bank the following day.
Draper, wearing a necktie made of bitcoin, was quoted as saying: “I come to the central bank with a decentralized currency.” However, Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Nandalal Weerasinghe, responded:
We don’t accept… 100% Bitcoin adoption will never be a reality. Sri Lanka.
The lack of food and other basics in Sri Lanka last year sparked riots. The President at the time fled the debt-ridden country and later resigned. Sri Lanka’s inflation rate was 54.2% in January. The governor explained that the economy had contracted by 8% in the past year.
Draper told the chief at the central bank that he was “a bit worried about you guys,” explaining:
Have you seen Sri Lanka? Do you want to get more information? It’s the capital of corruption. If a country is riddled with corruption, it could be a great fit for bitcoin adoption.
The VCs and billionaires have been trying to persuade Weerasinghe throughout their 30-minute meeting. He even mentioned El Salvador, which was the first nation to adopt bitcoin as a legal tender, alongside the US dollar, in September 2021.
“Does the government have the courage to do it?” Draper asked the governor of Sri Lanka’s central bank to push for the adoption of bitcoin. “What is the benefit of having your own currency?”
However, Weerasinghe responded:
We don’t want bitcoin introduction to make the situation worse.
Draper has been promoting bitcoin adoption in a number of countries and has received better responses than he did from the Sri Lankan authorities and central bank. For example, he was named the first resident of the digital residency program in the tiny Pacific Island nation of Palau.
The billionaire investor in bitcoin has been long bullish on its potential to be an inflation hedge. In his last November, he predicted that BTC should reach $250,000 by mid-2023.
The Central Bank of Sri Lanka has issued several warnings to the public about the risks associated with investing in cryptocurrency. In July last year, the central bank issued a notice warning that digital currencies were in danger and “are considered unregulated financial instruments and have no regulatory oversight or safeguards related to their use in Sri Lanka.” The authority was also added “has not granted any license or authorization to any entity or company to operate schemes involving virtual currencies, including cryptocurrencies.”
Can you imagine Sri Lanka adopting Bitcoin as billionaire Tim Draper suggested? Let us know through the comments page.
