VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger: Bitcoin Is “Climate Intolerant”, “Bad for Humanity”
Despite our world’s ever-increasing crypto adoption and continuous shows of support, there are certainly naysayers in the midst of those voicing opinions on Bitcoin. As of August 26th, one such high-profile skeptic shared his concerns with the token.
In an interview with Fortune, VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger spoke on the topic of cryptocurrency and its place in the world, joining the ranks of other tech CEOs to give their personal opinions on the up-and-coming industry, such as the CEO of Booking.com.
VMware, presently owned by Dell, is a provider of virtual machines and other virtualization or emulation technologies for both consumer and business spaces.
In Fortune’s piece, eight other tech executives were interviewed on Bitcoin in video form, including CEOs of Bakkt, Digital Currency Group, and the Western Union Company. Out of all executives whose opinions were shared in the article, only Gelsinger considered Bitcoin and crypto to be definitively negative.
Gelsinger stated that tech companies must pay more attention to ethical issues and ensure that their products don’t damage society. He continued:
You can’t have company business models that are fundamentally prying on people’s personal data and the only way for them to deliver financial returns is to become more invasive of humanity.
The comments come just before the VMware annual conference, to be held in San Francisco starting Monday. Gelsinger champions the idea of tech companies increasing responsibility in their impact products have on the environment and society. This includes Bitcoin’s environmental impact, by means of electricity consumption.
While it’s almost certain that Gelsinger’s comments will lead to backlash from the crypto community, Gelsinger claims to be prepared for the resulting discussion:
Of course, because to me the dialogue is exactly what we need. We don’t get to be absent from the policy and social debates—we have to be an active participant in them in shaping technology to be good.
