On a recent visit to Sri Lanka, American billionaire Tim Draper floated the idea of adopting Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender to fight corruption that contributed to hyperinflation in the island country. However, a key Sri Lankan official, central bank governor Nandalal Weerasinghe, believed that doing so would worsen the country’s economic situation.
Taking time from a television filming in Sri Lanka, Draper met with Chairman Ranil Wickremesinghe and Weerasinghe to recommend Bitcoin as a viable option to get out of financial trouble.
During the meetingDraper pointed to a key concern staring Sri Lanka:
“Have you seen Sri Lanka on the news? It is known as the capital of corruption. A country known for corruption will be able to keep perfect records with the adoption of Bitcoin.”
When he recommended using “decentralized currency” to the head of the Sri Lankan central bank, he received a short “we don’t accept” response. Weerasinghe further stated:
“100% Bitcoin adoption will never be a reality in Sri Lanka.”
Instead, Weerasinghe believed that having Sri Lanka’s own fiat currency was critical to the independence of monetary policy and would ensure efficient inclusion and disbursement of 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 February 2 earnings call, MicroStrategy CFO Andrew Kang said:
“We may consider seeking additional transactions that may take advantage of volatility in Bitcoin prices or other market dislocations that are consistent with our long-term Bitcoin strategy.”
According to Kang, MicroStrategy held 132,500 BTC (worth $1.84 billion) as of December 31, 2022. Of the batch, 14,890 BTC was held directly by the company and the rest by its subsidiary MacroStrategy.
