Billionaire venture capitalist Tim Draper says Bitcoin and AI could position SL as a paradise for global entrepreneurs.

• Sri Lanka claims it can replicate the successes of El Salvador and Estonia in adopting the latest technology to transform the country
• Draper arrived in SL to interact with key government stakeholders, including President Ranil Wickleminghe and the local startup ecosystem.

Nichelle Fernando
Billionaire venture capitalist Tim Draper believes Sri Lanka will adopt Bitcoin as its currency while at the same time enabling cross-industry adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) through 5G, making the country a global entrepreneurial hub. We propose to position it as a paradise.

“My advice to Sri Lanka is that you who have been cornered by the media must repaint yourself as a place of entrepreneurship and technology. It was to think in terms of attracting entrepreneurs to the country. How do you attract entrepreneurs to the country? If you have 5G everywhere, you have bitcoin as your currency, and you are specialized in AI, governments will start saying that they will start using AI everywhere, and by digitizing a digitized country, Transform., Honest.

Amazing things can happen,” he said. He joined his discussion Tuesday night in Colombo on a panel titled “From Troubled Nation to Startup Nation,” hosted by his space, startup his incubator and accelerator Hatch, an award-winning Sri Lankan co-working. I participated and made these remarks. Hatch has entered into a strategic partnership with He Draper Startup House, a global network of connected spaces for entrepreneurial resources.

As part of the partnership, Draper arrived in Sri Lanka and engaged with key government stakeholders, including President Ranil Wickremesinghe and the local startup ecosystem. Draper argued that Sri Lanka could replicate the success of El Salvador and Estonia in adopting the latest technology to transform the country.
“It will change every industry in the world. Why not take the lead and say we are the land of AI. We are the land of making it easy for everyone.

Then you will charm everyone. El Salvador was not a country of particular interest to anyone. They then adopted Bitcoin as their national currency. Then people started rushing there. Estonia was also not particularly interesting. Then they created a virtual residency program, his digitized ID, digital voting, digital parking and more. Be famous all over the world for something and put up that banner and people will come to your country, ”he elaborated. Adopting a decentralized Bitcoin as an official currency makes sense, he stressed, especially for a country like Sri Lanka, whose fiat currency has fallen 80% in six months.

“At once you will say why am I working with government fiat money? Why do we need rupees here? 80% down in six months. “Bitcoin took a big hit, but it’s still not that bad. They’d say they prefer a currency that appreciates over time rather than a currency that’s almost guaranteed to lose value next year.” He added that decentralized cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin have the potential to avert future economic crises caused by excessive banknote printing and reckless fiscal spending. “In most countries, it is usually one person who prints too much money, mismanages the economy, spends money recklessly, or causes bad inflation. , pops up elsewhere, so if you’re using a decentralized currency, you don’t get it, it’s global, it’s transparent, it keeps perfect records, it’s a faster way to send money I believe the next revolution, Bitcoin and AI, has even greater potential than the Internet,” he said. He further said that replacing fiat currency with bitcoin would allow governments to increase tax collection while reducing corruption and unnecessary spending.

“Bitcoin has opened up a lot of interesting markets. Blockchain keeps a perfect record. You can receive your taxes without the need for a bookkeeper, money transfer company, etc. It keeps perfect records, so there is no corruption.That’s blockchain.And then there are smart contracts.Smart contracts. You don’t need a lawyer when you do a legal deal at We do the deal and it’s in the software and that’s the deal,” he added.