Billionaire Draper Pitches Sri Lanka on Bitcoin, Gets Rejected

  • Tim Draper found an unreceptive audience for his idea
  • Island nation is still trying to calm financial markets
Tim DraperPhotographer: Jonathan Wijayaratne/Bloomberg
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A billionaire cryptocurrency evangelist may have gotten a tougher reception than he expected when proposing widespread adoption of Bitcoin to a bankrupt country.

Silicon Valley investor Tim Draper was in Sri Lanka to shoot an episode of his “Meet the Drapers” TV show with local entrepreneurs, and met President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Tuesday to proselytize the adoption of cryptocurrency. He journeyed to the central bank the next day with the same pitch — but embattled Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe, who’s still working to calm financial mayhem, was having none of it.