Print Page - Warren Buffett Agrees That Bitcoin Is "Disgusting"

The transient rise in the price of bitcoin has attracted many former critics of cryptocurrencies. This is definitely not the case when it comes to Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett and his right-hand man, Charlie Munger.
Munger said he hated the success of Bitcoin during the annual Berkshire shareholders' meeting on May 1. He added that all this progress and development is disgusting and contradicts the interests of civilization:
"Of course, I hate the Bitcoin success. I should say modestly that I think the whole damn development is disgusting and contrary to the interests of civilization, and I’ll leave the criticism to others."
While the Oracle of Omaha avoided asking about bitcoin, he agreed with Munger sharply: "I agree with that."
In May 2018, Warren Buffett called Bitcoin "rat poison."

Hate is irrational
These comments inevitably came under fire from the cryptocurrency community. Cryptocurrency economist and analyst Alex Krüger tweeted that hatred of money management was unreasonable:
"Munger's approach to coping with Bitcoin's success is hate. Can't be rational when hate is involved. Money managers that don't adapt to technological changes have a hard time outperforming."
Munger tends to speak very seriously about his contempt for the field of cryptocurrency as well as theoretical stocks. According to U. Today, the 97-year-old billionaire compared bitcoin and Tesla to "a lice and a flea" at the company's annual meeting in February.

Source: https://u.today/warren-buffett-agrees-that-bitcoin-is-disgusting

The only reason Buffett & Munger hate bitcoin is because it takes a portion of investment capital away from them. Bitcoin is a new technology & people hate change. Younger people are far more likely to invest in bitcoin than Berkshire Hathaway, that’s the real & only reason they hate bitcoin because it’s taking food off their table.

Just like the dinosaurs, investors like Buffett & Munger are becoming extinct.

Bitcoin is doing to finance what email did to physical letters/mail.

Adapt or die!

Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are for younger generations and I don't see anything weird if old investors like Buffet does not have interests in Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies.

They have their era and rules. Naturally, the elderly have their rules that you can not change. They are too conservative but I agree that if they can not learn something new (because of their ages), don't invest. Buffet does not break his rules and his risk management strategies can be useful for us as investors.

The pandemic, Buffet withdraw investments and capital from Air-companies and won't have plans to invest in such companies in the near future. I agree with this decision too. When you are uncertain about future, close your position and keep your capital.

The bear market in 2018 to 2019 is a period to read and digest his lessons, personally I learned a lot from Buffet and the latest bear market.

Quote from: Leviathan.007 on May 02, 2021, 11:24:24 AM

The transient rise in the price of bitcoin has attracted many former critics of cryptocurrencies. This is definitely not the case when it comes to Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett and his right-hand man, Charlie Munger.
Munger said he hated the success of Bitcoin during the annual Berkshire shareholders' meeting on May 1. He added that all this progress and development is disgusting and contradicts the interests of civilization:
"Of course, I hate the Bitcoin success. I should say modestly that I think the whole damn development is disgusting and contrary to the interests of civilization, and I’ll leave the criticism to others."
While the Oracle of Omaha avoided asking about bitcoin, he agreed with Munger sharply: "I agree with that."
In May 2018, Warren Buffett called Bitcoin "rat poison."

Hate is irrational
These comments inevitably came under fire from the cryptocurrency community. Cryptocurrency economist and analyst Alex Krüger tweeted that hatred of money management was unreasonable:
"Munger's approach to coping with Bitcoin's success is hate. Can't be rational when hate is involved. Money managers that don't adapt to technological changes have a hard time outperforming. "
Munger tends to speak very seriously about his contempt for the field of cryptocurrency as well as theoretical stocks. According to U. Today, the 97-year-old billionaire compared bitcoin and Tesla to "a lice and a flea" at the company's annual meeting in February.

Source: https://u.today/warren-buffett-agrees-that-bitcoin-is-disgusting

Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger is butt hurt because all the money going into Crypto currencies... are money not going into Berkshire Hathaway ....so it is just natural that they would hate the competition.

These guys wealth are dependent on the amount of money that are invested into the shares and stocks that they have in their portfolio... and Bitcoin are taking investor money away from that.

The Age of old money and rich old farts are ending... and they know it. ;)

There are many bitcoin critics, that is how I know being rich does not mean to know all, old people will like the old ways, bitcoin is a new way which old people will not like, but as these people are so critic about bitcoin, bitcoin is still making the progress, bitcoin reached marketcap of over $1 trillion this year, even after the so called critics has never stopped criticising about bitcoin, the criticisms are not just the reality, the true value of bitcoin has resulted in bitcoin progressing. Let the critics continue, bitcoin will always appreciate in value.

We have to understand where these two are coming from, yes they made a lot of money investing, but they are old and traditional fart as far as I'm concern. And obviously, they don't like to take that big risk in crypto that's why they keep on attacking it even if if will reach $1 million.

They have closed they eyes and minds already, so whatever we say to convince them, they won't adapt and invest on bitcoin, simply as that. I thought that Buffett won't come up with something news since the "poison rat" attack, but he level up again, calling bitcoin "disgusting".

It is completely pointless to discuss WB and its friends at all, because these people have been talking negatively about Bitcoin for 7+ years and nothing has changed until today. I don't care at all what he thinks about Bitcoin, why is his opinion important to someone on this forum?

WB is a dinosaur whose time is almost up, and the only thing in the whole story is disgustingly his blind greed for money - ordinary people retire sooner or later and enjoy what they have achieved in life, playing with grandchildren or going fishing - he just wants another billion more in the account.

One thing I don't understand is why everyone here in Bitcointalk is giving so much importance to Warren Buffet. Is it because he hates Bitcoin so much? We Bitcoiners have a tendency to ignore those who support us, and give importance to those who hate us. And this is exactly what is happening with Warren Buffet. His hatred towards Bitcoin is simply irrational and results from the fact that he couldn't digest the fact that an asset which he derided has become so successful. Common Bitcoiners, please be aware of your strengths. We have a combined market cap of $2.2 trillion, which is more than 4 times higher than that of Berkshire Hathaway. Don't tarnish the reputation of the cryptocurrency sector by begging in front of Buffet.

Quote from: Oshosondy on May 02, 2021, 12:52:54 PM

Buffet fall into the category of those old folks who don't find this new age technology interesting enough to be part of, maybe he feels the whole btc idea is too complicated for him to grasp or just plain mad he does not have control over it,
Using the word 'disgusting' sounds too harsh for something he never spared a moment to understand, admitting he hate the btc success does says a lot though (I sense jealousy). This guy will probably remain negative towards btc irrespective of what success btc achieves.

They hate is because they're losing real and potential profit. They're losing real profit when more people are switching from the traditional market towards Bitcoin because there's fewer dynamics with the stock and fewer interested customers. Likewise, they're losing tons of potential profit that they could've made had they been less stubborn about Bitcoin. It's a huge investment opportunity people like Buffett keep missing, so of course they'd want Bitcoin to go down and stop being so popular, so that they can finally do the "I told you so" thing. But it's indeed irrational to miss out of Bitcoin like that, even if profit is all they care about.

I am a huge Buffet fan. And also a very successful value investor.

At this point Charlie, whilst funny, is almost partially senile.

Buffet is a little sharper. He gets it. And he has remained much more silent on this point. They both know they would look foolish now if they flip to accepting BTC. They also know the "cache" that any BTC endorsement from them would carry.

If they were to buy to BTC, they would keep it quiet and then disclose later. It would be a mindblowing successful investment if they did it, and then disclosed, Think micro strategy on steroids and with cocaine. :) They could easily acquire 10 Billion or so with stealth and turn that into a 25% or so gain once they disclose their purchase.

The younger guys at Berkshire may well do this once the oldies retire or eventually die.

A first step might be to buy Coinbase, which is far easier to justify. Stat tuned!!!

Hey, it's like making that certain someone use the computer to actually let it do the work, making stuff easier but instead refuses to do so and makes you do it his own way since he wants to. People who hate on Bitcoin will continue hating on Bitcoin no matter what, especially if it's been this long and the proof of Bitcoin being greater is, well basically itself already. No matter the reason they have, as long as they hate it, then they hate it, but their reasoning I suppose certainly isn't with Bitcoin stealing their money, nope certainly not ;D .

Quote from: AsiaHODL on May 02, 2021, 02:00:31 PM

If they were to buy to BTC, they would keep it quiet and then disclose later. It would be a mindblowing successful investment if they did it, and then disclosed, Think micro strategy on steroids and with cocaine. :) They could easily acquire 10 Billion or so with stealth and turn that into a 25% or so gain once they disclose their purchase.

Could've stayed silent while investing in Bitcoin ngl.

A 90 year old man with a net worth of 73 billion USD. So he doesn't need to understand bitcoin in whatever way you may want to think. He has done great in his career and still achieving milestones in his life. He simply can overlook bitcoin or whatever new that is coming his way! He simply doesn't need to be bother about bitcoin.

Also he very well understands that bitcoin can seriously challenge the dominance of today's banking system. So hating bitcoin is a part of his job because he built his empire on the current financial scenario. I will let tmhis comments pass because he literally means nothing anymore for crypto ecosystem.

Quote from: Leviathan.007 on May 02, 2021, 11:24:24 AM

... contrary to the interests of civilization, and I’ll leave the criticism to others."

This is the second time I've read this but the phrase got my attention just now. It looks like they expected "civilized" people to follow their footsteps. They are filthy rich and successful but when did they become the arbiter of civilization? They do not want others to follow innovations?

It seems Warren Buffett's ego is hurt. He so loves to see Bitcoin fail to show the world that he is right on what he thinks about Bitcoin but sadly it looks like the market has proven him wrong. He believes that he is all-knowing when it comes to financial investment and people will follow his belief about Bitcoin but many did not. Even institution hops in. Well, at least he admitted that Bitcoin is successful so far.

Warren Buffet is a successful value investor. He only invests in companies he is confident he knows well. Very rarely does he invest in tech companies. That's why he regretted not buying Google stock. Currently he only holds shares of Apple.
Obviously he doesn't understand how money and technology combine. He made a subjective assessment of Bitcoin.
His silence since Justin Sun's lunch with Warren Buffet, maybe Buffett's thoughts have changed.

First, I will say Buffett is right about bitcoin being rat poison, which is why rats like him don't like it.

What is contrary to the interests of civilization is authoritarians and those who support their power hungry motives, those who are willing to sell everyone else out to a 3 to 3000000% annual invisible tax (inflation) and those who don't like giving individual people the power (and right) to control and own the value that they create; those don't think that people should have the right to the products of their own lives without it being subject to the whim of the masters they want in power where you own nothing by right.

Buffett and Munger have lost it. They are two power hungry people who don't care about anyone else and are willing to sell everyone else down the river to support their masters around the world. Their goal is a socialist dictatorship since they think they'll be exempt (or dead) while everyone else will pay. They have sold their souls to be in good graces with the so-called elites.

Quote from: LFC_Bitcoin on May 02, 2021, 11:38:34 AM

The only reason Buffett & Munger hate bitcoin is because it takes a portion of investment capital away from them. Bitcoin is a new technology & people hate change.

Exactly right. These people find change unbearable, specially when in this case it would eat away some of their potential profit. BTC and the blockchain technology
can be difficult for some to get to grips with if they don't have a technological background or tech interest.

It is unfortunately the change that is coming, and it is best to start adopting or else it would lead to the death of the old way. As always, economies grow, thrive and evolve, and the same go for the people leading it.

Quote from: Leviathan.007 on May 02, 2021, 11:24:24 AM

Munger said he hated the success of Bitcoin during the annual Berkshire shareholders' meeting on May 1. He added that all this progress and development is disgusting and contradicts the interests of civilization:

This is exactly the problem with Charlie Munger who is 97 years old and Warren Buffett who is 90 years old who thinks that they represent the entire civilization. They speculated and made money and that was ages ago and now if they attach the same logic they cannot accept the success. They should be glad that they made their money in the past and the same logic that made them money will not apply every decade ;D .

For all the critic statement and unsatisfactory expression from both of them @Charlie Munger and Warren Buffet, they were able to recognise and establish one fact and that is, the successs of bitcoin. This i feel was aroused in them the desire to be as successful in there endeavours as bitcoin but hating is the worst way to go about it.

Hate is a strong word and tonhave used it on bitcoin and its success, it only means they've long been seeing it as a competition that is there to crush them rather than a means of payment for there products. Criticising it for its success doesn't make it any better for them, it only create a mental barrier that hinders them from opening owning investments in bitcoin.

Its a wrong way to go about competition and besides, bitcoin isn't competing with anything. Adopting it as a medium of payment for the company and creating packages that ensures the option is attractive would aid the company and customers more than critics. They've got to wake up to the reality.

These guys are accustomed to bankruptcy and buying up companies, lending to the population at their own interest rates and presenting low-interest deposit opportunities in their banks. When cryptocurrencies became a part of the daily life of millions of people, these people began to lose customers, moreover, they are simply not competitive with this technology. Unsurprisingly, this is how they feel about bitcoin. But this is even good, since their hatred keeps them away from the market, where they would continue to be speculators and sharks.

Quote from: LFC_Bitcoin on May 02, 2021, 11:38:34 AM

Exactly, they dont understand the technology and they dont need to invest in it
they have made their wealth but I still dont get how they can be so critical even
as LFC_Bitcoin states that it takes a portion of attention away from them.

As an example of the typical comments directed at Bitcoin over the years here is
his latest one, he attacks Tesla too!

This is from the article in the OP.

Quote

As reported by U.Today, the 97-year-old billionaire compared Bitcoin and Tesla to “a louse and a flee” at the Daily Journal Corporation's annual meeting in February.

Also I created a thread dedicated to the hatred of Buffet towards Bitcoin and his quotes

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5308822.msg56078482#msg56078482

It's better to not expect from people to change their opinions about anything, such things happens very rarely, because people don't like admitting that they were wrong. Warren Buffet will soon be dead and he won't see Bitcoin at the heights of its adoption, so no one would be able to tell him how wrong he was.

I think the fact that so many people in Bitcoin community take Buffet's criticism so close to their hearts shows how many people here are investors first and foremost. I wouldn't criticize them for that, but Bitcoin is not just an asset, it's a movement based cypherpunk ideals.

To be honest, I don't think Warren Buffett's hate or negative statement about Bitcoin should bother us and we shouldn't expect him to like or support the Bitcoin movement because if he does he will lose the trust of his investors. However, his investment capital makes lose lately which Warren Buffett can easily relate it with the doing of Bitcoin since a lot of institutional investors invested in Bitcoin that the reason why he called Bitcoin "rat poison" but if we look at it, Bitcoin is indeed rat poison to his company.

I kinda understand why Buffet and Munger are hating on Bitcoin.
Those two usually invest in stocks,which means that they invest in companies that actually produce and sell something to the consumers.Bitcoin is not a company or a stock,maybe that's why they don't understand the value of Bitcoin. ;D
I like how he compared Bitcoin and Tesla to "a lice and a flea".This is kinda accurate,even though it's just hating on BTC. ;D Lice and fleas aren't that bad,even though they are horrible for the people.
They can spread pretty easily and they can survive hostile conditions.
I want Bitcoin to spread easily and to survive in a hostile environment. ;D

Warren Buffet was right when he said bitcoin is rat poison and this rat poison has been suffocating the rats that is why they are screaming their lungs out about bitcoin. Behavior of Warren the rat is expected, specially when you find out that bitcoin (something he claimed has no value) is worth more than his empire. In fact it surpassed it about 6 months ago (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5305261.0) when its price was about $30k! Now bitcoin is worth twice that :)

Quote from: bryant.coleman on May 02, 2021, 01:39:59 PM

One thing I don't understand is why everyone here in Bitcointalk is giving so much importance to Warren Buffet. Is it because he hates Bitcoin so much?

I think the reason is that for most he is a kind of role model for how to get rich, and people actually respect his wealth and the way he earned it. The fact that he doesn't like Bitcoin is simply incomprehensible to them, so they are still surprised that he doesn't change his mind - as if that would mean something looking at the big picture.

We realized long ago (at least some did) that it shouldn't matter to us what just one man thinks, whether his name is Buffett, Gates or Trump - Bitcoin would never succeed without the millions of individuals who support it - that's the real strength of a community that obviously bothers some - Divide et impera (divide and rule) strategy does not work the way some powerful people envisioned it. The mirage is still there, and the US dollars are worth less and less which causes great frustration for the WB and people like him.

Quote from: https://www.cnbc.com/2014/03/14/buffett-blasts-bitcoin-as-mirage-stay-away.html

“Stay away from it. It’s a mirage, basically

As long as they keep discussing Bitcoin, they are doing Bitcoin a favor. I am glad to see Buffett trying to discredit Bitcoin and I'm always happy when Bitcoin is mentioned by investing celebrities, even when this is for the wrong reasons. I don't expect this asset to be seen as productive by Buffett, so I'm glad he isn't investing in it or switching sides. In fact, if he one day turns and finds Bitcoin interesting, that would be alarming.
We are somewhere near the end of the bull run, and Bitcoin can rise more and then crash. When it crashes 80% from the top, it will still be higher from previous all-time highs, and when all haters will be having a party telling us how right they were.

They just can't accept it that is why all they can do, like you mentioned on how to cope up with the success and attention that Bitcoin got, is hate.
One businessman/investor destroying another investment through words is just the way to go, cause they can't do crap.

Thing is business would destroy other businesses in order to dominate. Bitcoin ain't even some sort of business, it is a coin. Buffett couldn't just buy one because he can't entirely own Bitcoin.

They should change by the time they should not hate Bitcoin even there are many other critics as well. Their hatred towards BTC can not affect the BTC. I respect them and I agree they are masters in their fields and Bitcoin is based on new technology and by the time one should change and change his perception according to the technology. Nothing can be changed by their hate. Whatever they said we should not worried about it.

Slightly off-topic, but:

Quote from: cr1776 on May 02, 2021, 04:11:14 PM

Buffett and Munger have lost it. (...) Their goal is a socialist dictatorship

I was with you up until that point. Huh? I'm going to need a step-by-step on the thought process there. When I think of people pushing socialist agendas, I tend not to find myself instinctively including hedge fund managers, banksters and the directors of large multinational holding companies.

Is this one of those curious libertarian "anyone-who-wants-to-control-money-is-a-socialist" notions? I think you'll find it's what you choose to do with the money that determines whether you're a socialist or not.

On the other hand, I see some people who insult and scold bitcoin, I think they say that because they don't hold large amounts of bitcoin when the price of bitcoin goes up. On the other hand, I also see among those who praise bitcoin because it has helped their economy when the price of bitcoin is rising. in the crypto market who has a lot of money then they will buy bitcoin or altcoin then they can control the price of the coin they buy, if you have a lot of money then you are the ruler.

Quote from: dificanovi on May 03, 2021, 02:24:44 PM

On the other hand, I see some people who insult and scold bitcoin, I think they say that because they don't hold large amounts of bitcoin when the price of bitcoin goes up.

I think they just can't digest how the Bitcoin market is processed. People tend to either hate or accept technology and sadly those who don't understand them chose to hate them than learning them. In other cases such as when they learned that they were at fault and they are mistaken, they just held on to their ego than admitting that they were wrong. I believe this is what happens to Warren Buffett.

Quote from: Leviathan.007 on May 02, 2021, 11:24:24 AM

These comments inevitably came under fire from the cryptocurrency community. Cryptocurrency economist and analyst Alex Krüger tweeted that hatred of money management was unreasonable:
"Munger's approach to coping with Bitcoin's success is hate. Can't be rational when hate is involved. Money managers that don't adapt to technological changes have a hard time outperforming."
Munger tends to speak very seriously about his contempt for the field of cryptocurrency as well as theoretical stocks. According to U. Today, the 97-year-old billionaire compared bitcoin and Tesla to "a lice and a flea" at the company's annual meeting in February.

These two men are very intelligent people and arguably the greatest investors in history, so it is worth giving their words some credit - even if they could be a bit more delicate about describing it. In the past they have famously stated their strong aversion to technology stocks and this feels like an extension to that way of thinking. In some respects they have incentive to discourage cryptocurrency usage because it eats into the margins of their credit card companies, I think they have large holdings in American Express and possibly Visa too. In fairness to them, Bitcoin by its very nature offers a lot of anonymity and this is what they are most disheartened about. While the average honest holder of Bitcoin would not care less, their are plenty of criminals around the world who abuse that feature to the detriment of wider society and this is what they seem to be so concerned about. It feels like they also take a veiled pop at Elon Musk in one of their comments about billionaires manipulating cryptocurrencies to make easy gains and that is definitely right.

I haven't studied Munger much, but if he is Warren's right hand he should be a respectable person in investment management. With all the respect I have for Buffett, hate and disgust do not have a place in this game. To the objective eye, Bitcoin is a new form of money, while to Buffett and Munger looks like a threat.

I thought with all the life experience these guys possess, they are more open-minded. From my perspective they haven't been too "friendly" with anything relating to technology. I guess old age is indeed affecting flexibility of the mind. I don't know for sure, but I could bet that they haven't even done a proper due diligence of cryptocurrencies and their implications/potential.

Quote from: acener on May 03, 2021, 03:41:55 PM

Nothing new and shocking for me,
Even if Bitcoin is doing well increasing price, Gaining popularity and investors there would always be someone who would hate it and tell this kind of things.
It is how it is there would always be an investor who would hate the new ones because they couldn't catch up to it.

The rich people always want the poor to remain as poor. If everyone becomes rich, then there will be no value for money and on top of that the rich people will not be able to secure cheap labor for their corporations. A perfect example is the richest Australian, a lady named Gina Rinehart. Her net worth is estimated at $36 billion and once she said that her employees should be ready to work for $2 per day (minimum wage in Australia is $20 per hour).

Quote from: Yogee on May 04, 2021, 04:38:20 PM

Quote from: lifeforcepools on May 03, 2021, 06:46:12 AM

Hate crypto, but keep buying stocks? Very strange.

Why is that strange? It's exactly what you would expect of a crypto hater. They are either into stocks or gold. Some of them even prefer real estate, bonds and other slow moving investment assets.

There are three types of investors. The first type comprises high-risk investors and this is the demographic group which is most inclined towards Bitcoin and the other cryptocurrencies. This group is mostly comprised of younger investors, who are tech savvy. Then there is the second group of investors who are mostly comprised of middle-aged people. They are not very fond of cryptocurrency, and are mostly in to stocks and real estate. And then we have the third group, which comprises of people like Warren Buffet. This group doesn't want to take much risk, and limit their investment to low-risk stocks and treasury bonds.

Quote from: LFC_Bitcoin on May 02, 2021, 11:38:34 AM

I like and respect Warren Buffet a lot. On the other hand, I definitely agree with your point. Looking at the history of finance, we see that finance is always in evolution and in history, there was always some kind of resistance when getting into new phases but it didn't prevent that evolution from happening.

If you read books regarding finance, you would know that Munger's statement/comment regarding the success of the bitcoin is actually the same reaction the first generation traders had when Fiat has been made and successfully launched. System repeats itself they say and this applies here today. Imagine Warren spending his entire lifetime building his empire while Bitcoin made it for a very short period of time? That's an insult to him. Munger in the other hand spend all his life becoming an underwing in order to reach the corporate ladder's top then Bitcoin investors did it for just a quick snap? Hope this perspective can help.

Hate would be a natural reaction if someone feels threat. Fiat and stocks are the assets Bitcoin gives threat with. Both of these assets are the bread of Munger and Buffett so we have to understand why they feel what they feel and them being against Bitcoin. You will never be able to teach and old dog a new trick and validation from Warren is actually not a thing. His statement will never change the success we have in the Bitcoin community.

This is not new, some people still hate bitcoin it is because they are into the traditional way, they prefer the traditional way than to adapt to the changes of the world, we are now in the modern world and cryptocurrency is well known by a lot of people, those who are young are now into cryptocurrency y unlike to those old people who ate not good in technology so they might choose the traditional way or the fiat currency over crypto.

Well, the civilization’s agenda mentioned by Munger is actually something that we don’t really want.
Imagine that? Who the hell would accept their way where people can become oligarch and that is only 1% of them. Then the rest are we who serves them? Rat-poison they said? Maybe they are right, --they are the rats who are scared of it. However, Warren Buffet is old enough to adapt cryptocurrencies though, so I guess on this part we are currently outplaying/outsmarting their traditional way of living. They are just scared since they do not have time to spend mastering the craft of today. I think that is where they become irrational.

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Bitcoin => Bitcoin Discussion => Topic started by: Leviathan.007 on May 02, 2021, 11:24:24 AM