Speaking during a Reddit AMA, Gates argued that “the government’s ability to find money laundering and tax evasion and terrorist funding is a good thing.

“Right now cryptocurrencies are used for buying fentanyl and other drugs so it is a rare technology that has caused deaths in a fairly direct way.” In contrast to cash, which is also untraceable, cryptocurrencies can be used remotely, which removes another avenue of control, he added.

Gates also suggested that investing in the sector is a bad idea: “I think the speculative wave around ICOs and cryptocurrencies is super risky”.

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Gates is not the only former tech executive to have a negative view of cryptocurrencies. Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple, revealed on Tuesday that he had lost seven bitcoins to a scammer.

“Somebody bought them from me online through a credit card, and they cancelled the credit card payment,” he told a conference in India. “It was that easy. And it was from a stolen credit card number, so you can never get it back.”

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