Apple founder Steve Wozniak hails bitcoin and blockchain as ‘next major IT revolution’

Bitcoin is 'better' and 'more stable' than gold and the US dollar

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has given another powerful endorsement of cryptocurrency and its underlying blockchain technology, hailing its revolutionary potential at a conference on Thursday.

Speaking on stage at the WeAreDevelopers World Congress in Vienna, Mr Wozniak said he believed the blockchain will have a huge impact on the technology sector, hailing it as “the next major IT revolution that is about to happen.”

Despite his positive outlook for bitcoin and blockchain, Mr Wozniak said in a separate interview at the event that he was “bothered by what technology has become,” referencing Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal.

“We used to be able to have conversations in secret with people. If I were to say something to you in private now, others wouldn't hear it — that isn't the case anymore,” Mr Wozniak said.

“We lost our security a long time ago. We've lost our privacy and it's been abused. If I think I have a level of privacy that I don't, that's deceit. And that bothers me. I hit a limit. I can't take that. It's one step in a long series of steps that are all in the same direction.”

Not all Silicon Valley companies came under fire from Mr Wozniak, with the Apple co-founder revealing his excitement about buying a Tesla after buying his wife a Mercedes.

“Elon Musk emailed me, said that I bought a gas guzzler, said that I’m not a ‘true Silicon Valley boy’ – I love that phrase,” Mr Wozniak said.

“After a few months, my wife came into my office one night and said ‘if you want a Tesla you can order it.’ 30 seconds later [I ordered it].”

Steve Wozniak previously said he waved goodbye to his 5,000 Facebook friends in order to better protect his personal data (Getty Images for Discovery)

His proclamations about blockchain technology follow previous comments about how bitcoin is better in key ways to gold and the US dollar.

At the Money 20/20 event in Las Vegas last October, Mr Wozniak described traditional currencies as “kind of phony” due to the fact governments and create new units of the currency for political reasons, while gold also lacked a fixed supply.

“There is a certain finite amount of bitcoin that can ever exist,” he said. “Gold gets mined and mined and mined. Maybe there’s a finite amount of gold in the world, but cryptocurrency is even more mathematical and regulated and nobody can change mathematics.”