Sri Lanka against Bitcoin adoption, rejects Draper’s anti-corruption pitch
cointelegraph.comOn a recent visit to Sri Lanka, American billionaire Tim Draper pitched the idea of adopting Bitcoin (BTC) as a legal tender to fight against the corruption that contributed to hyperinflation in the island country. However, a key Sri Lankan authority — central bank Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe — believed doing so would worsen the country’s economic situation.
Taking time from a TV shoot in Sri Lanka, Draper met President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Weerasinghe to recommend Bitcoin as a viable option for getting out of financial problems.
During the meeting, Draper pointed out a key concern staring right at Sri Lanka:
As he recommended using “decentralized currency” to the head of Sri Lanka’s central bank, he received a short “we don’t accept” reply. Weerasinghe further stated:
Instead, Weerasinghe believed that having Sri Lanka’s own fiat currency was critical for monetary-policy independence and would ensure efficient inclusion and disburse electronic welfare payments.
“We don’t want to make the crisis worse by introducing Bitcoin,” Weerasinghe concluded.
Related: Australia introduces classification for crypto assets
MicroStrategy, a software analytics company co-founded by Michael Saylor, shared plans to continue offering BTC trading services despite incurring an unrealized loss of $1.3 billion in 2022.
During a Feb. 2 earnings call, MicroStrategy’s chief financial officer, Andrew Kang, said:
According to Kang, MicroStrategy held 132,500 BTC (worth $1.84 billion) as of Dec. 31, 2022. Of the lot, 14,890 BTC were held directly by the business and the rest by its subsidiary MacroStrategy.
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