Warren Buffett: Bitcoin Craze Will End Badly
(Kitco News)- The world’s most famous investor doubled down on hisnegative view of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies Wednesday.
In an interview with CNBC, Warren Buffett, from Omaha,Neb., said that he will have nothing to do with cryptocurrencies. In a harshrebuke of the asset class, Buffett said, “I can say almost with certainty thatthey will come to a bad ending.”
He explained that he thinks the bitcoin craze has gottenout of hand, with everyone focused on the marketplace. He noted that 11 studentsfrom schools will be visiting his Berkshire Hathaway company on Friday and heexpects them all to ask about cryptocurrencies, “and I won’t know the answers.”
He added that the only trade he would make in the digitalcurrency market would be a long-term, five-year put option. “I would nevershort a dime’s worth,” he added.
In the interview, Buffett said that his firm willcontinue to focus on eight or 10 stocks that he thinks are “decent businesses.”
“I get into enough trouble with things I think I knowsomething about," he said in the interview.
Buffett’s comments come a day after Jamie Diamond, chiefexecutive officer of JPMorgan, offered his mea culpa on the bitcoin by sayingin an interview on Fox Business that he “regrets” calling the digital currencya fraud. He added that “the blockchain is real.”
Since the start of 2018, bitcoin has struggled torecapture its unprecedented momentum, which drove prices up almost 2,000% lastyear. Aggregated markets on Kitco.com showed bitcoin last trading at $14,540per token. The cryptocurrency has lost more than 24% from its record highsposted in late October.
Gold, which some have said is a competition tothe digital currency market, outperformed bitcoin in the first few weeks of thenew year. February gold futures last traded at $1,319.20 an ounce, up 1% sincethe start of the month.
By Neils ChristensenFor Kitco News
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