Warren Buffett, the 87-year-old American investor and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, has again scorned investment in cryptocurrencies, claiming that buying bitcoin is not investing, in an interview with Yahoo Finance in Omaha, Nebraska, overtheweekend.
Theres two kinds of items that people buy and think theyre investing, he said.
One really is investing and the other isnt.He added: If you buy something like a farm, an apartment house, or interest in a business you can do that on a private basis and its a perfectly satisfactory investment.
You look at the investment itself to deliver the return to you.
Now, if you buy something like Bitcoin or some cryptocurrency, you dont really have anything that has produced anything.
Youre just hoping the next guy pays more.
Buffett went on to suggest that such investments are merely a speculative game and a gamble and that no one knows exactly what (bitcoin) is.The so-called Oracle of Omaha has repeatedly poured contempt on the crypto industry, claiming with almost certainty that cryptocurrencies will come to a bad end, in an interview in January, all the while admitting that cryptocurrencies are something I dont know anything about.
Buffett has been recycling the lack of intrinsic value argument since 2014, when he first dismissed bitcoin as a mirage on CNBC.Buffett has also wielded the bubble argument against bitcoin, as well as stating that BTC cannot be valued because its not a value-producing asset.
The Oracles anti-crypto stance is shared by ousted Paypal CEO Bill Harris, who called bitcoin a scam this week, and Buffets vice chairman at Berkshire Hathaway, 94-year-old Charlie Munger, who thinks interest in bitcoin is simply disgusting.