Topline
Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Charlie Munger railed towards bitcoin in Berkshire’s annual assembly Saturday, calling the cryptocurrency — which Munger and longtime associate Warren Buffett have excoriated for years — “disgusting and opposite to the pursuits of civilization.”
Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett and vice chairman Charlie Munger attend an annual shareholders … [+]
Key Info
Throughout a dwell question-and-answer session Saturday, an investor challenged Buffett and Munger on their well-documented skepticism of cryptocurrency, particularly bitcoin, whose value has surged greater than sixfold over the past yr.
Buffett dodged the query, joking that he’ll anger bitcoin homeowners if he criticizes it.
Munger was much less diplomatic: He mentioned he hates bitcoin’s current good points, arguing the forex was “created out of skinny air” and is a go-to cost methodology for criminals.
Essential Quote
“I don’t welcome a forex that’s so helpful to kidnappers and extortionists,” Munger mentioned. “I feel the entire rattling growth is disgusting and opposite to the pursuits of civilization.”
Contra
“I’m gonna dodge that query,” Buffett mentioned. “We’ve most likely obtained a whole lot of 1000’s of individuals watching this that personal bitcoin, and we’ve most likely obtained two people who find themselves brief. So we have now a alternative of constructing 400,000 folks mad at us and sad, or making two folks pleased, and that’s only a dumb equation.”
Key Background
Bitcoin skepticism isn’t a brand new place for the 2 leaders of Berkshire Hathaway. Buffett has known as bitcoin a “delusion” and “rat poison,” and he vowed final yr to by no means personal any cryptocurrencies, arguing they entice charlatans and “mainly don’t have any worth.” Munger, for his half, has known as bitcoin “synthetic gold” and insisted its volatility makes it ineffective as a method of trade, and he’s in contrast crypto investing to “buying and selling turds.”
Tangent
Buffett and Munger are unusually vivid of their disgust for bitcoin, however they’re not the one folks to query it. Bitcoin fans imagine the cryptocurrency is gaining traction with mainstream customers as a method of cost, however critics warn its astronomical costs are the results of hypothesis and it stays too risky to function a broadly adopted forex.
Additional Studying
Berkshire’s Charlie Munger: ‘Bitcoin is nugatory, synthetic gold’ (CNBC)
