[2017-10-27] Warren Buffett: Bitcoin is a bubble, as it doesn’t produce value

[fanatseal2]

Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway and once the richest man on the planet, has lately met with students in Nebraska at a Q&A session. Among other issues mentioned at this session was Bitcoin – and it’s interesting to know what one of the most powerful market figures of the word thinks about this cryptocurrency.

According to MarketWatch, Buffett stated that Bitcoin is not a value-producing asset and there is no telling how far its price would go. It is “a real bubble in that sort of thing”, Mr. Buffett concluded. There is a completely unjustified hype around initial coin offerings, the entrepreneur believes, and described this as a typical market sentiment when “people get excited from big price movements, and Wall Street accommodates”.

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[okae]

So another one richman who is saying bad things about bitcoin, i'm 100% sure that he is buying bitcoins on the shadows like his "friends" JPmorgan did some weeks ago...

Is there something better for a guy like this than the bitcoin market if he want to make money?, all those guys are saying one thing and doing the opposite mostly of the times...

[Xavofat]

like his "friends" JPmorgan did some weeks ago...

It was a client buying BTC.  JP Morgan themselves didn't buy BTC.

According to MarketWatch, Buffett stated that Bitcoin is not a value-producing asset and there is no telling how far its price would go. It is “a real bubble in that sort of thing”, Mr. Buffett concluded. There is a completely unjustified hype around initial coin offerings, the entrepreneur believes, and described this as a typical market sentiment when “people get excited from big price movements, and Wall Street accommodates”.

To be fair to Buffett, he may be correct that the crypto market is in a bubble, and it's not entirely unreasonable to suggest so.  Buffett has always liked very simple long-term investments and prefers not to frequently buy and sell or engage in risky investments.

What he actually said about the value of crypto was:

You can’t value bitcoin because it’s not a value-producing asset.

And while we can argue about this all we like, it's not particularly subjective.  There's no "correct" value of BTC, and Buffett seems to be aware of that.  Perhaps he's also aware that suggesting Bitcoin is in a bubble is subjective, so when he does that maybe he's aware that he could potentially be wrong.

[1Referee]

It's funny how this article is twisting Buffet's words to make this article look a bit more interesting (i.e hostile) than it in reality is - of course, to spark readers interest. It's not very often where I somewhat can understand the point of view of a mere traditional investor when it comes to Bitcoin. Important to understand is that till this day, basically every crypto currency (Bitcoin as well obviously), is still a speculative investment tool for the far majority of the people. In other words, the value that we see today might be far above what would be justiable in current time, but that's because of the speculative nature that is impossible to get rid of entirely, and I don't even want to get rid of it. It's part of this market, it attracts loads of fresh capital, etc. I see only benefits here.

[ivanpoldark]

Maybe Warren is right, Bitcoin can be a bubble, but it helps to build new financial system for new generations. It already helps a lot of young entrepreneurs get rich, they are free from hard work 9 to 5, and are able to put their mind and ideas in something important projects for humanity, like Elon Musk did.

[Kingofbitcoin12345]

Bubble or not that is on one’s faith to the others.. Those who believe and trust bitcoinhave different thingbto say,, it’s more subjective to the one who experienced it and that is the end of the discussion..

Warren Buffet might have expressed it on his understanding and others interpret it to they’re biases, and all can I say is, does it matter when all that can be affected are the once started doubting bitcoin because of incompetence..

This what we call all along about simultaneously attack to bitcoin when it is increasing for others group benefits..

[xFiber]

Maybe Warren is right, Bitcoin can be a bubble, but it helps to build new financial system for new generations. It already helps a lot of young entrepreneurs get rich, they are free from hard work 9 to 5, and are able to put their mind and ideas in something important projects for humanity, like Elon Musk did.

I don't feel like we've hit the real bubble yet. I agree on the fact that this year has been a crazy right but there's still a lot of ground to cover. Bitcoin will keep amazing people. That's for sure.

[Signaturan]

Maybe Warren is right, Bitcoin can be a bubble, but it helps to build new financial system for new generations. It already helps a lot of young entrepreneurs get rich, they are free from hard work 9 to 5, and are able to put their mind and ideas in something important projects for humanity, like Elon Musk did.

When more people use the bitcoin, the bitcoin becomes more valuable. But Buffet benefits from the fiat, so he will say bad words to bitcoin.

[heldworld]

Buffet won't be the first person to say that but what keeps happening in the crypto world continues to be a mystery to the likes of him.

[yugyug]

TL;DR; i don't know if it is his second statement about bitcoin, to recall way back 2014 3 years ago, he release this statement the same way as what the OP posted that the bitcoin is a sort of bubble, but to tell you Mr. Warren Buffett that you are wrong again. You know what , you didn't know the technological breakthrough of the blockchain the backbone of bitcoin. many are fear with the decentralized blockchain technology including the bank and some giant financial institution. Yes, you are an investment guru but you can't be a cryptocurrency analyst because this kind of things is not your forte.

[odolvlobo]

I might side with Buffett if he also said that the dollar is a bubble because it is not an value-producing asset.

[jekjekman]

Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway and once the richest man on the planet, has lately met with students in Nebraska at a Q&A session. Among other issues mentioned at this session was Bitcoin – and it’s interesting to know what one of the most powerful market figures of the word thinks about this cryptocurrency.

According to MarketWatch, Buffett stated that Bitcoin is not a value-producing asset and there is no telling how far its price would go. It is “a real bubble in that sort of thing”, Mr. Buffett concluded. There is a completely unjustified hype around initial coin offerings, the entrepreneur believes, and described this as a typical market sentiment when “people get excited from big price movements, and Wall Street accommodates”.

Read more

He may be right, if we are going to compare Bitcoin to the trading stocks of Berkshire Hathaway it doesn't have anything behind it where the prices are coming. His company also started from a small price but now it is the highest valued trading stocks. Company started in the 90's. But one thing is common with bitcoin and Berkshire's stocks. It is the demand from the people who wants to own a piece of it as an investment and bitcoin being called as the currency of the future might exceed it's price in the future.

[BLAST2MARS]

Yah, yah. Why would a filthy rich old guy care about btc? He's already rich and that is the common statements that oligarchs say about btc and it's expected as usual.

[hatshepsut93]

Most Bitcoin naysayers have one thing in common - their age. Usually they are old people from stock markets, banks and governments who don't understand new technology and are afraid to see their own wealth getting disrupted by a new asset. Their opinions don't have much weight despite their success with fiat economy - because Bitcoin introduces a new type of economy, the one not yet fully studied by economists, so many traditional economic theories simply do not apply to Bitcoin.

[Odymisty]

Maybe Warren is right, Bitcoin can be a bubble, but it helps to build new financial system for new generations. It already helps a lot of young entrepreneurs get rich, they are free from hard work 9 to 5, and are able to put their mind and ideas in something important projects for humanity, like Elon Musk did.

I don't feel like we've hit the real bubble yet. I agree on the fact that this year has been a crazy right but there's still a lot of ground to cover. Bitcoin will keep amazing people. That's for sure.

I completely agree with xFiber. Bitcoin may get as high as 100,000$. it has a lot of ground to cover.

[acquafredda]

Replying to Mr. Buffet is easy. I think he is afraid that Bitcoin might beat his Berkshire toy in the long run and he will have no time to get on board.
To do this I will quote a post from 2011 when BTC got parity with the US Dollar.

Only when most people do NOT think it is a bubble, then prices may correct.
This is the truth behind market sentiment.
As long as so many people here write about bubbles, we are far from a (temporary) peak.
Nothing in principle stops bitcoins to reach 1 $, 10$ 100 $ as long as we see this increasing fund inflow.
Just my tiny pearls of wisdom.

So be it.

[senin]

In our world, in fact, everything that makes up the financial side of our relationship can be called a bubble. After all, even what is gold and what is its value? This is one of many on the planet Earth of ordinary metals, the value of which lies in its rare occurrence. If many gold deposits were discovered that would allow it to be extracted in unlimited quantities. its value would immediately fall. In practice this would also be a soap bubble. The value of bitcoin is its limited quantity, which can be mined - 21 million pieces. This is its objective value and it is not a soap bubble, like our gold.

[Cryppy_guyL]

Maybe Warren is right, Bitcoin can be a bubble, but it helps to build new financial system for new generations. It already helps a lot of young entrepreneurs get rich, they are free from hard work 9 to 5, and are able to put their mind and ideas in something important projects for humanity, like Elon Musk did.

I don't feel like we've hit the real bubble yet. I agree on the fact that this year has been a crazy right but there's still a lot of ground to cover. Bitcoin will keep amazing people. That's for sure.

I completely agree with xFiber. Bitcoin may get as high as 100,000$. it has a lot of ground to cover.

I also agree that bitcoin can become very valuable. This is the technology of the future. And someday a lot of productions will be based on blockchain technology

[bitcoinisbest]

Buffet won't be the first person to say that but what keeps happening in the crypto world continues to be a mystery to the likes of him.

What he is saying is also correct because what exactly is this is nothing more than virtual. You are not getting any base as such in physical form due to which people are not able to digest it. This results in thinking that it is bubble and  due to its volatility it become more dangerous for many of them.

[Qartersa]

Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway and once the richest man on the planet, has lately met with students in Nebraska at a Q&A session. Among other issues mentioned at this session was Bitcoin – and it’s interesting to know what one of the most powerful market figures of the word thinks about this cryptocurrency.

According to MarketWatch, Buffett stated that Bitcoin is not a value-producing asset and there is no telling how far its price would go. It is “a real bubble in that sort of thing”, Mr. Buffett concluded. There is a completely unjustified hype around initial coin offerings, the entrepreneur believes, and described this as a typical market sentiment when “people get excited from big price movements, and Wall Street accommodates”.

Read more

I think Buffet's assertion on Bitcoins is more like an old entrepreneur's normal claim -- that which is conventional is more certain than the other. I think in order to move forward, you have to mobilize the concept of 'forward' in a sense that it involves keeping abreast with what is new and what is not. We have to be ever coping up with times in order to succumb to humanities' pressing needs. Thus, while his opinion may be based on his own suppositions, I cannot help but frown upon such unprecedented theories.