Bill Gates, as you likely already know, is an American entrepreneur, philanthropist, co-founder of Microsoft Corporation, and formerly the richest person in the world (currently fifth on the list). Gates has long been widely recognized as one of the pioneers of the personal computer revolution and for his contributions to the development of software applications. As a Microsoft co-founder, he helped build a company that has since exerted a significant impact on the technology sector while transforming the way people work, communicate, and access information. Gates has also dedicated a large portion of his wealth to philanthropic causes through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

In May 2022, Gates conducted an AMA (Ask Me Anything) session on Reddit, his tenth, during which he fielded questions on everything from indoor farming to nuclear power. To one question that simply asked what he thought “about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies,” Gates replied: “I don’t own any. I like investing in things that have valuable output. The value of companies is based on how they make great products. The value of crypto is just what some other person decides someone else will pay for it so not adding to society like other investments.”

Not exactly a shining endorsement, of course—and especially when considering that the last ten-plus months since Gates’s AMA comments have proven a particularly bumpy ride for Bitcoin and crypto overall. As a thought experiment, though: Would Gates have made or lost money had he actually bought crypto back then? (Short answer: It depends on the coin in question.) In any case, here’s a breakdown of the price action of Bitcoin, Dogecoin, and XRP over the period since.

Bitcoin

With a net worth of well over $100 billion ($109.8 billion at the moment), Bill Gates could certainly afford to buy plenty of Bitcoin, though whether or not he’d actually want to has proven a different question. Bitcoin's price has always been famously volatile, and its value has fluctuated wildly over the past few years in particular, with the price of Bitcoin having experienced some significant ups and downs between May 2022 and April 2023.

On May 20, 2022, the day after Gates disclosed that he didn't actually own any cryptocurrency, Bitcoin was trading at a high of $30,664.98. Since then, the price of Bitcoin has dropped slightly, to $28,163.69 at current. However, this price difference only tells part of the story. In the intervening period, Bitcoin experienced substantial volatility, dropping to as low as $16,291.83 by November 2022 before recovering to nearly $29,000 by the beginning of April 2023.

It's also worth noting that Gates has been critical of Bitcoin in the past, calling it a "speculative mania" in a 2018 interview. While he has since softened his stance somewhat, it's unsurprising that he still harbors significant concerns about the long-term viability of crypto as an asset class.

Beyond the fact that Gates’s investment would have lost some of its value by now had he bought Bitcoin after his Reddit AMA, it's difficult to picture him feeling any non-buyer’s remorse right now given his past stance. Ultimately, only time will tell whether or not Gates has made the right financial decision by staying away from Bitcoin.

Dogecoin

While Bitcoin has long remained the dominant cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization and overall adoption, Dogecoin has become a popular alternative that has attracted a lot of attention from various investors and enthusiasts. With its ironic community and meme-inspired branding, Dogecoin has experienced significant overall price appreciation since its inception in 2013.

Directly following Bill Gates’s May 2022 reveal that he doesn't own any cryptocurrency, Dogecoin traded at a high of $0.0878. Since then, the price of Dogecoin, like Bitcoin, has fluctuated considerably as well, reaching a low of $0.0575 in September 2022, before rallying to over $0.1426 by November 2022, before falling yet again. At the moment, Dogecoin is trading at $0.0989.

It’s still difficult to say whether or not Gates should have buyer's remorse for not buying Dogecoin. While the cryptocurrency has experienced some significant price rallies throughout the past year, it has also seen large drops, making it a high-risk investment by any definition. In addition, Dogecoin's value is largely driven by its popularity and community support, which can be difficult to predict and may not be sustainable over the long term.

While it's true that Bill Gates could have made a slight profit by now had he invested in Dogecoin in May 2022, this wouldn’t necessarily translate to any sort of non-buyer’s remorse for him currently. Dogecoin, like crypto as a whole, remains high-risk/high-reward, with Dogecoin’s value in particular largely fueled by its community popularity and hype.

XRP

XRP, the native currency of the Ripple payment protocol, is another popular cryptocurrency that aims to facilitate cross-border payments using blockchain technology. Since its inception in 2012, XRP too has also experienced a lot of price volatility along the way.

By late May 2022, just after Gates’s AMA comments, XRP was trading at a high of $0.4375. Since then, the price of XRP has fluctuated along with the rest of the crypto space, reaching a low of $0.3217 in June 2022, before rising to a high of $0.5340 by October 2022, before falling, and rising, once again. At the moment, XRP is trading at $0.5013, having rallied over the past month due at least in part to widespread speculation over the impending verdict of the lawsuit it has long been fighting against the SEC.

Once again, price appreciation aside, it’s tough to determine whether or not Gates should have any non-buyer's remorse for passing on crypto and thus XRP. While XRP has seen some bullish price rallies over the past year or so, it has also undergone significant drops.

And although this makes for another instance where Bill Gates could have actually profited nicely thus far had he invested last year—and thus he probably should have some non-buyer’s remorse—this much remains unlikely. As with Dogecoin and Bitcoin, XRP still amounts to a high-risk investment, with its value largely driven by its adoption as a payment protocol. And given Gates's longstanding concerns about crypto as a whole, his outlook likely remains unchanged—for now.

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Valuable Input

Bill Gates—co-founder of Microsoft, noted philanthropist, and fifth richest person in the world—divulged in his May 2022 Reddit AMA that he doesn’t own any cryptocurrency and doesn’t plan to own any. Overall, given the larger volatility of crypto, it remains to be seen whether or not Gates will or should have any financial regrets for not investing in the space, although this much seems unlikely, especially when accounting for his public input on crypto over the years.

As the price of Bitcoin, Dogecoin, and XRP have fluctuated over the past ten-plus months, it remains difficult to predict which crypto projects will remain profitable and sustainable over the long term. However, it’s worth remembering that, in this thought experiment at least, Gates would currently be up on two out of his three investments.

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