Billionaire investor and Bitcoin advocate Tim Draper paid an unexpected visit to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka to promote cryptocurrency as a weapon against corruption. Even so, he faced a hostile reception from the bank's governor, Nandalal Weerasinghe.
When Draper presented the cryptocurrency to the central bank, Weerasinghe said that they would not accept it. The Governor further added that Sri Lanka would never adopt cryptocurrency as a full substitute for its currency and warned against its use due to the potential to exacerbate an already dire situation in the country.
During his meeting with Weerasinghe, Draper, smartly dressed in a Bitcoin tie, claimed that Sri Lanka could benefit significantly from following El Salvador's lead in adopting Bitcoin. He proclaimed: "A nation notorious for corruption can keep impeccable records using Bitcoin."
However, Governor Weerasinghe stressed the need to retain his currency for independence from monetary policies and opined that other technologies would be suitable for providing financial services.
Sri Lanka's economic problems
This week, while filming an episode of his “Meet the Drapers” TV show with local entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka on location, Tim Draper held a meeting to passionately advocate for Bitcoin adoption. He even had the chance to discuss this personally with Chairman Ranil Wickremesinghe and promote Bitcoin adoption.
This year marks the 75th anniversary of Sri Lanka's independence from Britain, yet the country remains mired in a severe economic and political crisis that arose when it failed to repay its foreign loans totaling more than $56 billion. The lack of fuel and food sparked massive protests demanding change and the forced departure and resignation of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
The alleged systemic corruption in Sri Lanka is considered a contributing factor to the current unrest in the country; however, those currently in power seem reluctant to present Bitcoin as an answer.
In 2014, Tim Draper made headlines when he acquired around 30,000 BTC (worth around $19 million at the time) seized from Silk Road by the US Marshals Service around the same year, in what In what would turn out to be an incredibly accurate prediction, Draper suggested that the price of Bitcoin could reach as much as $10,000 within three years, and it did. In 2017 alone, we saw its value skyrocket past the $20k mark.
Although many of Draper's predictions have been accurate, his 2018 prediction of Bitcoin Hits $250,000 by 2022 was not. When the cryptocurrency industry entered a downtrend in November 2022, he pushed his estimate to mid-2023 and stated that he would hit his $250,000 target at this point.
