Sri Lanka Rejects Billionaire Tim Draper’s Proposal of Bitcoin Adoption

• Tim Draper sought to persuade the government and central bank to accept bitcoin.
• Sri Lanka’s GDP shrank by 8% in 2022 and its benchmark inflation rate was 54.2% in Jan.

While in Sri Lanka this week to film an edition of his “Meet the Drapers” TV programme with local businesses, billionaire investor and venture capitalist Tim Draper allegedly sought to persuade the government and central bank to accept bitcoin.

According to Bloomberg, on Tuesday the billionaire met with Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe to advocate for bitcoin adoption, and on Wednesday he met with the Sri Lankan central bank to do the same. Wearing a bitcoin tie, Draper was reported as saying: “I come to the central bank with a decentralized currency.” Nandalal Weerasinghe, governor of Sri Lanka’s central bank, however, rejected the offer.

Tough Times For Sri Lankan Economy

Sri Lanka’s gasoline and food shortages led to rioting last year. The nation’s president at the time resigned and then departed the country due to its mounting debt. According to the governor, Sri Lanka’s GDP shrank by 8% in 2022 and its benchmark inflation rate was 54.2% in January.

During their thirty-minute conversation, the billionaire VC made many attempts to persuade Weerasinghe. Even using El Salvador, which in September 2021 became the world’s first nation to recognize bitcoin as legal cash alongside the U.S. dollar, he made his point.

Unlike his experience with the Sri Lankan government and central bank, Draper has had more success pitching the adoption of bitcoin to other nations. For example, the Pacific island nation of Palau declared him the first ever “digital resident” of the digital-residency initiative.

The billionaire has always had faith in bitcoin because of its use as a decentralized store of value and inflation hedge. He projected in November 2022 that Bitcoin will reach $250,000 by mid-2023.