Revered billionaire investor Warren Buffett apathy towards bitcoin has shown no signs of change. The Oracle of Omaha, who had last year called bitcoin “probably rat poison squared”, said that it is a “gambling device,” ahead of Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska on Saturday.
Multiple frauds related to bitcoin have happened and a lot (of capital) is lost on it while it hasn’t produced anything, CNBC reported citing Warren Buffett talking to reporters.
“It doesn’t do anything. It’s like a seashell or something, and that is not an investment to me,” Berkshire Hathaway CEO said.
In fact, Warren Buffett’s dislike for bitcoins only escalated when he compared bitcoin to the button on his jacket suggesting that much like the button, bitcoin also has little or limited use.
“I’ll offer it (button) to you for $1000, and I’ll see if I can get the price up to $2000 by the end of the day…but the button has one use and it’s a very limited use,” Warren Buffett said.
The famed investor had last year as well expressed his disinterest in cryptocurrencies “with almost certainty” that they will have a “bad ending.”
Nonetheless, Warren Buffett’s views on blockchain technology aren’t akin to what he thinks about bitcoin. He said that blockchain is very big, but it doesn’t need bitcoin. He also hinted towards investment in blockchain. “We are probably doing (it) indirectly, but I wouldn’t be the person to be a big leader in it.”
Bitcoin, however, rallied to a six-month high (since November 14, 2018) by 7 per cent to around $5,750 on Friday, as per data by CoinDesk.
Warren Buffett’s comments on bitcoin come few weeks after JP Morgan launched its own cryptocurrency called JPM Coin — the first for a major US bank, the bank announced on its website. Facebook too has been reportedly working on cryptocurrencies even as Wall Street Journal reported that on Thursday that Facebook is hiring financial firms and online merchants to launch cryptocurrency-based payments system.