Berkshire Hathaway Vice President Charlie Munger denounced bitcoin at the annual Berkshire assembly on Saturday, and called the cryptocurrency, which Munger and his lifelong spouse, Warren Buffett, have excavated for years, “disgusting and counter-civilization. “
In a live Q&A consultation on Saturday, an investor challenged Buffett and Munger for their well-documented skepticism about the cryptocurrency, bitcoin, whose value is more than six times more than six times last year.
Buffett dodged the question and joked that he would anger Bitcoin if he criticized it.
Munger less diplomatic: he said he hated Bitcoin’s recent profits, arguing that the currency had been “created from scratch” and an essential means of payment for criminals.
“I don’t appreciate a coin that’s so useful to kidnappers and extortionists,” Munger said. “I think this whole damn progression is disgusting and contrary to the interests of civilization. “
“I’ll avoid that question,” Buffett said, “We probably have thousands of other people who see this and who own bitcoins, and we probably have two other people who are running out of things, so we have the option to make another 400,000 people with us and unhappy, or make two other people happy, and that’s just a stupid equation. “
Bitcoin’s skepticism is not a new position for the two Berkshire Hathaway executives. Buffett called Bitcoin an “illusion” and a “rat poison,” and promised last year that he would never own cryptocurrencies, arguing that they attract charlatans and “basically have no value. . Munger, for his part, called bitcoin “artificial gold” and insisted that its volatility makes it a means of exchange, and compared cryptographic investment to “poop trading. “
Buffett and Munger are unusually disposed of in their displeasure with bitcoin, however, they are not the only ones asking. Bitcoin enthusiasts say cryptocurrency is gaining ground among client users as a means of payment, but critics warn that its astronomical costs are the result of hypotheses. and it’s still too volatile to serve as a very followed currency.
Charlie Munger of Berkshire: “Bitcoin is a nugatory synthetic gold” (CNBC)
I’m a breaking news reporter at Forbes, I’ve already covered news for the Boston Guardian and graduated from Tufts University in 2019.
I’m a last-minute news reporter in Forbes. I already covered news for the Boston Guardian and graduated from Tufts University in 2019. You can contact me jwalsh@forbes. com.