By Billionaire investor and Bitcoin fan Tim Draper made a surprise visit to the headquarters of Sri Lanka’s central bank trying to promote the cryptocurrency as a tool to fight corruption, but faced a frosty reception from the bank’s Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe, per a Bloomberg report.
“I come to the Central Bank with decentralized currency,” Draper said, only for Weerasinghe to bluntly respond, “We don’t accept.”
“Adoption of 100% Bitcoin won’t be a Sri Lanka reality ever,” Weerasinghe said, adding that, “we don’t want to make the crisis worse by introducing Bitcoin.”
During his meeting with Weerasinghe, Draper, dressed in a Bitcoin tie, said that should Sri Lanka follow El Salvador’s lead in making use of Bitcoin, “A country known for corruption will be able to keep perfect records with the adoption of Bitcoin.”
Monetary policy independence
According to the Governor, however, having its own currency is necessary for Sri Lanka’s monetary policy independence, and other technologies are capable of distributing financial services.
The meeting came during Draper’s visit to the island nation this week to shoot an episode of his “Meet the Drapers” TV show with local entrepreneurs. During his stay, Draper also met the country’s president Ranil Wickremesinghe, where he again made the case for Bitcoin adoption in Sri Lanka.
