By CCN: Billionaire pals and colleagues Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger doubled-down on their bitcoin haterade at the 2019 Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders meeting.
Munger said bitcoin fans had invited him out for a drink this weekend, but he didn’t even consider it because he thinks they’re all traitors.
“I’ve been invited during this gathering to go to a happy hour put on by the bitcoin people. And I tried to figure out what the bitcoin people do in their happy hour and I finally figured it out: They celebrate the life and work of Judas Iscariot.”
The audience erupted into laughter in response to Munger’s crypto diss. Buffett followed up by asking, “Is your invitation still good?”
Highlight: “Your vice chairman is getting new social distinction,” Munger says. “I’ve been invited during the gathering to go to a happy hour put together by the bitcoin people. And I tried to figure out what the bitcoin do in their happy hour and I finally figured it out…” pic.twitter.com/BM7FHiKPyf
— Yahoo Finance (@YahooFinance) May 4, 2019
Munger Echoes Legacy Banks’ Fear of Bitcoin
For reference, Judas Iscariot was the apostle who betrayed Jesus Christ for 30 pieces of silver. Calling someone a Judas is saying he’s a traitor.
Munger’s comment is indicative of the way many established financial institutions view cryptocurrencies: as an existential threat to traditional banks.
This is part of the reason why investment bankers often trash bitcoin as shady and “illegitimate.”
At the Berkshire meeting, Buffett doubled-down on his bitcoin hatred by echoing his earlier sentiment that buying it is “mathematically dumb” and reckless gambling.
Highlight: Buffett on bitcoin: “On my honeymoon in 1952, my bride, 19, and I, 21, stopped in Las Vegas. … I looked around and saw all of these well-dressed people… they came to to do something that every damn one of them knew was mathematically dumb…” #YFBuffett pic.twitter.com/6Hi5ukbDFr
— Yahoo Finance (@YahooFinance) May 4, 2019
Warren Buffett: Bitcoin Has No Value
In April 2018, Buffett said there’s no such thing as “investing” in bitcoin because it’s a sham “asset” that delivers no returns (video below).
“You aren’t investing when you [buy cryptocurrency]. You’re speculating. If you wanna gamble, somebody else will come along and pay more money tomorrow. That’s one kind of game. But that is not investing.”
“If you buy bitcoin, you don’t really have anything that has produced anything. You’re just hoping the next guy pays more.”
Howard Marks: Bitcoin Is a ‘Greater Fool Investment’
Billionaire Howard Marks, the co-founder of Oaktree Capital Management, calls this the “Greater Fool” theory of investments. Oaktree Capital has $122 billion in assets under management.
Marks said bitcoin is not a worthwhile long-term investment vehicle, but merely a short-term trading opportunity.
“[Bitcoin is] not an investment…it’s a trade. In the long run, I think it will be shown not to have any substance.”
Marks said people who buy bitcoin do so only because they want to turn a quick profit by selling off their holdings to a “greater fool” than themselves.
“This is what we called, when I was a kid, the ‘Greater Fool Theory.’”
Bitcoin Will Prove It Never Had Any Substance, Claims Billionaire Skeptic Howard Marks https://t.co/kZwT02Wvir
— CCN.com (@CCNMarkets) July 19, 2018
Flashback: Munger Called Bitcoin ‘Turds’
By now, everyone in the financial community is well aware of Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger’s disdain for cryptocurrencies.
At last year’s Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting, Buffett trashed bitcoin as “rat poison squared, as CCN reported. And Charlie Munger said he hated crypto even more than Buffett does.
Munger then compared bitcoin to “turds” being traded by people with dementia.
“I like cryptocurrency even less than Warren does. To me, it’s just dementia. [And a bitcoin trading desk is] like somebody else is trading turds and you’re being left out.”
Buffett then predicted that crypto will definitely come to a “bad ending,” and he feels sorry for all the suckers who got conned in the crypto shell game.
“In terms of cryptocurrencies, I can say with almost certainty that they will come to a bad ending.”
Separately, here’s another highlight of the 2019 Berkshire shareholder meeting: Buffett dissed Elon Musk.
Elon Musk, Warren Buffett Spar After Berkshire Billionaire Disses Tesla https://t.co/0dGqsqRm3D
— CCN.com (@CCNMarkets) May 5, 2019
