Warren Buffett & Charlie Munger on Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency | Berkshire 2021

[Transcript]

BECKY QUICK: This question comes from Raghu Baichwal, and it’s for both Warren and Charlie. “Now that the crypto market overall is valued at $2 trillion, do you still consider cryptos as worthless artificial gold?” (Laughs)

WARREN BUFFETT: Well, I knew there’d be a question on Bitcoin or crypto. And I thought to myself, well, I’ve watched these politicians dodge questions all the time, you know. And I always find it kind of disgusting when they do it, but the truth is, I’m going to dodge that question — (Laughs) — because we’ve probably got hundreds of thousands of people watching this that own bitcoin, and we’ve probably got two people that are short. So, we got a choice of making 400,000 people mad at us and unhappy and — or making two people happy. And that’s just a dumb equation.

So, I thought about it. We had a governor one time in Nebraska — a long time ago — but he would get a tough question, you know, what do you think about property taxes? Or, you know, what should we do about schools? And he’d look right at the person and he’d say, “I’m all right on that one!” (Laughter)

And then he’d just walk off. Well, I’m all right on that one, and maybe we’ll see how Charlie is. (Laughs)

CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, those who know me well are just waving the red flag at the bull. (Laughter)

Of course, I hate the Bitcoin success. And I don’t welcome a currency that’s so useful to kidnappers and extortionists and so forth, nor do I like just shoveling out a few extra billions and billions and billions of dollars to somebody who just invented a new financial product out of thin air.

So, I think I should say modestly that I think the whole damn development is disgusting and contrary to the interest of civilization. And I’ll leave the criticism to others. (Laughter)

WARREN BUFFETT: I’m all right on that one! (Laughter)

Source: https://buffett.cnbc.com/2021-berkshire-hathaway-annual-meeting/

 

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