Warren Buffett doesn’t see much value in Bitcoin, despite its recent price rise. The Berkshire Hathaway boss sympathizes, however, with people hoping to get rich quick off it. “Something like Bitcoin, it is a gambling token, and it doesn’t have any intrinsic value. But that doesn’t stop people from wanting to play the roulette wheel,” Buffett said during an appearance on CNBC’s Squawk Box on Wednesday.
Bitcoin was trading at more than $30,000 on Thursday, having started the year at below $17,000. But it’s still down considerably from its peak of nearly $69,000 in November 2021.
In mid-February, Mike Novogratz, CEO of crypto investment firm Galaxy Digital, noted the “FOMO building up” around Bitcoin, referring to the “fear of missing out.” At the time, Bitcoin was trading at just below $24,800, and Novogratz said he “wouldn’t be surprised” if it hit $30,000 by the end of March.
Though Buffett didn’t mention FOMO, he said on Wednesday, “The urge to participate in something where it looks like easy money is a human instinct which has been unleashed. People love the idea of getting rich quick, and I don’t blame them…It’s so human, and once unleashed you can’t put it back in the bottle.”
Buffett and Berkshire vice chairman Charlie Munger have a long record of bashing Bitcoin.
In 2018, Buffett said Bitcoin is “probably rat poison squared” at the Berkshire Hathaway 2018 shareholder meeting. He added on CNBC at the time, “When you’re buying nonproductive assets, all you’re counting on is the next person is going to pay you more because they’re even more excited about another next person coming along.”
When he made those comments, Bitcoin was trading a bit lower than $10,000, far below the heights it would reach in the years ahead. But Buffett and Munger have been consistent in their criticism of the digital token.
Munger, Buffett’s longtime right-hand man, has been especially harsh. In April last year, he said of Bitcoin, “It’s stupid because it’s still likely to go to zero,” and “it’s evil because it undermines the Federal Reserve System.” He also commended China for banning Bitcoin.
And earlier this year, Munger called for the U.S. to ban cryptocurrencies altogether, saying in a different interview he was “not proud of my country” for allowing them to thrive.
But Bitcoin bulls continue to predict massive surges in the coin’s value. In February, ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood, who is heavily invested in crypto, predicted Bitcoin would hit $1.48 million by 2030, up from her earlier $1 million forecast.
On the other hand, Mark Mobius, the billionaire cofounder of Mobius Capital Partners, predicted in December that Bitcoin would fall to $10,000 at some point this year.