Held on Saturday, Apr. 30th, Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholders meeting proved to be an insightful event for all in attendance. Discussions ranged far and wide on the overall state of the financial sector, but arguably among the most prominent talking points were the realities brought forth surrounding cryptocurrencies and fintech writ large.
It's a weighty dilemma for some, as the volatility and scams inherent within the space prove to be a diminishing factor to the overall acceptance of digital assets. A major deterioration was experienced not a mere several months prior, when some of the biggest players in crypto witnessed a 10% dip, an overall market drop of $205 billion in only 24 hours.
Thus, to Berkshire Hathaway head honcho Warren Buffett, bitcoin and all other assorted digital assets aren't exactly the most ideal form of assets to begin with. His stance has been criticized by the likes of tech evangelist Peter Thiel, and even Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the latter of which responded to a clip of the powerhouse investor on Sunday by saying, "Haha, he says 'bitcoin' so many times."
Despite the outcry, attention, and various butting heads, Buffett has remained far removed from the cryptocurrency realm, citing that, "Assets, to have value, have to deliver something to somebody." He adds, "And there's only one currency that's accepted." To the billionaire investor, the crypto world is all but a fad. He isn't necessarily alone, either, as some of the biggest names in the sphere consider digital coins as a more long-term investment, requiring tons of hope that said investment will hit a lucky leap over time.
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Buffett himself relays, "nobody" is a short-buy bitcoin holder, as the majority is long-term investors. Sure, there are a ton of varied alt coins available, some of which have offered immense price points in a short amount of time, yet more than most of these very types of assets requires incredible knowledge about the space and someone close to the coins themselves.
"Whether it goes up or down in the next year, or five or 10 years, I don't know. But the one thing I'm pretty sure of is that it doesn't produce anything. It's got magic to it and people have attached magic to lots of things," Buffett explains.
Proof of his convictions is shown in the $600 million opt-in of more Apple stock made at the dip, allotting the investor a rather substantial newly evaluated stake in the tech company by a value of around $159.1 billion, nearly 40% of Buffett's portfolio. Clearly, Buffett still understands the major value in technology, but is still hard pressed on seeing crypto as a major factor in the space.
Buffett elaborates even more while holding up a $20 US bill, "You can come up with all kinds of things-we can put up Berkshire coins...but, in the end, this is money. And there's no reason in the world why the United States government...is going to let Berkshire money replace theirs."
In early April, the aforementioned Thiel, yet another well-known investor and arguably the most notable tech enthusiast, took aim at Buffett, citing him as "enemy no. 1" in terms of slowing the might of cryptocurrency in financial investing. He even went so far as to call Buffett a "sociopathic grandpa from Omaha," painting him as an ancient in a realm now seemingly dominated and necessitating the "youth."
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Written by Ryan Epps