This week CNBC brought together three whales of the financial world – Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and Charlie Munger.
Among other things, all of them were asked their opinion concerning cyber-assets. It was especially curious as recently the Oracle of Omaha said bitcoin and its ilks aren’t the investment.
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Gates has also always been cautious about the new phenomena in the financial world and even blamed cryptos for people’s deaths, saying that they are used on the Dark Web to purchase dangerous drugs.
Anyway, here are the opinions of the three influential men of the world of finance and technology.
#1. Bill Gates
The second wealthiest person on earth with the net worth $90 billion, Bill Gates, had always sounded pretty skeptical when it came to virtual money. This time, Gates hasn’t shown us anything drastically different.
Actually, he nearly reiterated the thought that previously expressed his wealthy-list opponent Warren Buffett. The Microsoft’s co-constitutor emphasized that cryptos do not produce anything. Therefore, there’s nothing to expect – their price won’t grow naturally.
“It's kind of a pure 'greater fool theory' type of investment," said Gates.
At the same time, one of the most known investors in the world added that he would short crypto “if there was an easy way to do it.” By the way, in investment ‘to short’ means to vend an asset before purchasing it in order to get profits when its price plunges.
Ultimately, Gates stressed that in his opinion both bitcoin and ICOs are “speculative things,” though he admitted that once he owned BTC – somebody gave it to him as a birthday gift, sometime later he sold it.
Despite the fact that he doesn’t really appreciate cryptos, Gates made it clear that the blockchain does make sense.
As it is known, Gates is on the board of Berkshire Hathaway, the American multinational holding company, owned by Buffett. On par with the last one – his longtime investment partner - as well as with Charlie Munger, the chairman of the same company, he spoke to CNBC.
#2. Charlie Munger
Munger, the vice chairman at Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, has also always been cautious about bitcoin. Actually, last weekend he made diminishing remarks on cryptos. And this time he repeated his opinion.
"Bitcoin is worthless, artificial gold. Now that is not something I think the world needs," said Munger on CNBC.
He went on, explaining that the fact blockchain is involved and mathematical calculations ( “computer science” ) as well doesn’t mean that this crypto should be adopted everywhere. He also emphasized that influential people should not encourage amateur investors to “speculate on it.”
Finally, Munger summed up his thoughts quoting Oscar Wilde – his definition of fox hunting, projecting it on bitcoin:
“The pursuit of the uneatable by the unspeakable."
The vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway also attended the yearly meeting of the company, where he called the trading of cyber assets “dementia.”
#3. Warren Buffett
The investment guru, known for his strategy “buy and hold” (which in the crypto-world can be interpreted like “hodl”), has never been a bitcoin supporter. Just some days ago Buffett clarified that in his opinion bitcoin is not an investment, because there is no intrinsic value in it.
This week Buffett sounded even harsher on cryptos, as he called bitcoin a probable “rat poison squared.”
Interestingly, earlier this year Buffett predicted that digital assets “will come to a bad ending.” He even suggested: “If I could buy a five-year put on every one of the cryptocurrencies, I'd be glad to do it, but I would never short a dime's worth."
