Berkshire Hathaway’s Charlie Munger Is ‘Disgusted’ by Bitcoin’s Success
As many average Americans and investors continue watching their net worth grow as cryptocurrency value rises, Charlie Munger, Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway holding company, told shareholders that he hates “the Bitcoin success.”
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In the annual shareholder meeting Saturday, he said, “I don’t welcome a currency that’s useful to kidnappers and extortionists and so forth.”
He went on to berate Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, saying, “Nor do I like just shoveling out a few extra billions and billions of dollars to somebody who just invented a new financial product out of thin air. So I think I should say modestly that I think the whole damn development is disgusting and contrary to the interests of civilization.”
Munger previously called Bitcoin “artificial gold,” MarketWatch reports.
Chairman Warren Buffet was more diplomatic in discussing the rise of cryptocurrency. He seemed to have been watching out for his company’s interests by dodging the question.
“We probably got hundreds of thousand [sic] of people watching that own Bitcoin, and we probably have two people that are short. So we got a choice of making 400,000 people mad at us and unhappy…or making two people happy, and that’s just a dumb equation,” Buffett said during the meeting.
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However, Munger’s outspoken opinions didn’t seem to stir the ire of investors, as Berkshire Hathaway stock showed gains of more than 2% and rising mid-day Monday.
Earnings statements, apparently, speak louder than words on Wall Street, and reported a 26% rise in first-quarter operating earnings. After-tax operating profits reached $7 billion, more than a $1 billion increase for the same quarter last year, MarketWatch reported. Operating earnings often paint a more accurate picture of a company’s financial health, as they exclude profits and losses from some investments.
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