Billionaire investor Warren Buffett has once again slammed Bitcoin, asserting he โwouldnโt takeโ all of the BTC in the world for just $25.
The 91-year-old, with a net worth of around $124 billion, is an avid crypto skeptic that once called Bitcoin “rat poison squared.” His arguments often stem around digital assets offering no tangible value, and the community has been quick to highlight on this occasion that there is a myriad of use cases and utility in crypto that Buffett likely hasnโt researched.
Speaking at the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholder meeting on April 30, Buffett commented on crypto in relation to the growing mainstream adoption of the sector. He noted that while he has no idea if the value of BTC will increase moving forward, he is sure that โit doesnโt produce anything.โ
Buffett argued that he would happily write โa check this afternoonโ worth $25 billion for 1% of all the farmland or โapartment housesโ in the U.S. as they both produce real-world utility, but wouldnโt even spend $25 for 100% of the supply of Bitcoin:
โNow if you told me you own all of the Bitcoin in the world and you offered it to me for $25 I wouldnโt take it because what would I do with it? Iโd have to sell it back to you one way or another. It isnโt going to do anything. The apartments are going to produce rent and the farms are going to produce food.โ
โAssets, to have value, have to deliver something to somebody. And thereโs only one currency thatโs accepted,โ he added.
Well-known crypto proponents were mocking Buffettโs comments on Twitter over the weekend.
warren buffett thinking crypto is worth zero is funny bc he has literally no idea that ethereum just had a customer pay $150M to use the software for 2 hours.
โ ฮ (@scott_lew_is) May 1, 2022
Co-founder of top crypto venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) Marc Andreessen noted that โitโs so wild he says this stuff while nakedly shilling diabetes,โ in reference to an ensemble of Seeโs Candies boxes and soda cans on Buffettโs desk during the speech.
In response, Tesla CEO and Twitter owner Elon Musk said โhaha he says โBitcoinโ so many times.โ While MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor chimed in that โeveryone canโt stop talking about Bitcoin.โ
Haha he says โBitcoinโ so many times
โ Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 1, 2022
Related: Top 5 cryptocurrencies to watch this week: BTC, LUNA, NEAR, VET, GMT
Jamie Dimon pays crypto a small compliment
One crypto skeptic that is at least softening their stance a little, is JPMorgan CEO, Jamie Dimon.
The banker once described Bitcoin as โfraudโ and has continuously reiterated that he has no interest in backing the sector on a personal level, despite JP Morgan warming up to digital assets significantly over the past couple of years.
Speaking with Omaha-based news outlet KMTV 3 on Friday, Dimon noted that while he still doesnโt particularly like crypto and urges caution when investing in it, he will โdefend your right to do it.โ
He also went on to highlight that crypto does serve important use cases at times, especially in regards to cross-border payments:
โNot all of it is bad. If you said to me โI want to send $200 to a friend in a foreign country,โ that could take you two weeks and cost you $40. You could do it through a digital currency and itโll take you seconds.โ