Bill Gates recently spoke with Bloomberg about his telephone conversation with president-elect Donald Trump. Gates took the opportunity of sharing his ideas with Donald Trump regarding prospective philanthropic efforts, and he also talked about his investment dealings. Gates has said that he still has hopes of seeing continued innovation in the area of clean energy initiatives under the future president’s administration.

Discussion Centers Around Environmental Concerns

The call, according to Gates, was “was not entirely unproductive”. Gates has recently launched a project that he claims will eradicate all emissions contributing to our greenhouse gas problem. The plan is estimated to cost in the billions of dollars. In addition, Gates established the Breakthrough Energy Ventures Fund that helps to provide monies for the creation of cost-effective ways to produce power that run cleanly and efficiently. Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, and John Doerr, venture capitalist, have partnered with Gates to this end.

Gates also spoke to Mr. Trump about the importance of education and medicine, two fields about which he is passionate. He said that, along with energy, these two studies have the capacity to be beneficial for American leadership. He added that these also make for a great deal. Gates told Bloomberg that he believes we will not be seeing as many incentives offered by the federal government for new processes creating renewable energy after Trump is sworn in, a situation he said was “unfortunate”.

Still, Gates remains hopeful. He expressed that as regards research and development, the surrounding factors tend to carry the least amount of bipartisanship. He stated that America’s policies regarding the study of sustainable sources of electricity have always been strong, and he believes that the United States will only continue to investigate more ways to effectively use our planet’s resources.

According to reports from Forbes and Time, Donald Trump does not believe that climate change is man made, and he is of the opinion that the fluctuations we are seeing are the result of natural processes. He has also gone on record as saying that global warming is a hoax. This flies in the face of what the work of over 375 scientists’ has produced. Even so, Gates has said that “we should all do our best”. Advocates for the solar and wind power sector plan to approach Republicans with a plan to offer tax credits to those inventing processes for producing power.

Bill Gates a Fan of Bitcoin

Gates has been a vocal proponent of the Bitcoin, suggesting that it is a cheap solution to fiat currency. He has said that it is a “technical tour de force”, adding that it is “exciting”. Still, Gates believes that this is an area where governmental oversight will remain paramount. The network operates in a peer-to-peer fashion, and it exists entirely in digital form. The cryptocurrency currently exists outside the control of any governmental or financial entity.

It has been said that Gates becomes animated when speaking about Bitcoin. He thinks it shows tremendous potential, because it is convenient for moving larger sums of money. He also admires its capability of transcending international borders. He states that its one flaw is the inability to reverse transactions, because in order for a currency to become dominant, it needs to be able to redress inaccurate transfers.

Gates is a proponent of improving the technologies inherent to Bitcoin, and he likes the precedent set by the payment system. He has stated that its volatility is a problem and that this is something that needs to be remedied. The Gates Foundation gave a gift of $100,000 to Bitsoko, a blockchain firm.