Legendary investor and billionaire Warren Buffett continues his bearish outlook on bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
In a televised interview on CNBC, Buffett was asked about JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon’s backpedaling take on bitcoin, after the latter expressed regret about calling bitcoin a ‘fraud’ last year.
Queried if he too would re-think his recent remarks on bitcoin – Buffett called bitcoin a “real bubble” following Dimon’s comments last year – the investing icon had this to say:
“In terms of cryptocurrencies, generally, I can almost say with certainty that they will come to a bad ending.”
While predicting the demise of cryptocurrencies, Buffett went on to claim he’d bet on “every one of the cryptocurrencies” falling over the next five years. “But, I would never short a dime’s worth,” he added.
Probed further, Buffett stressed he wouldn’t take a negative position by trading bitcoin futures contracts, stating there’s “no reason” to do so. “Why in the world should I take a long or short position of something I don’t know anything about?” he quipped, admitting to knowing very little of cryptocurrencies.
“I have 11 schools coming on Friday [and] the questions will be on bitcoin, and I won’t know the answers,” Buffett added, preparing everyone else for more soundbites on cryptocurrencies this week.
Buffett’s take on cryptocurrencies, specifically bitcoin, is similar to another long-term bitcoin bear in JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon. In September 2017, Dimon infamously said bitcoin was a “fraud”. “It’s worse than tulip bulbs,” Dimon continued in the same breath, adding “someone is going to get killed.” The Wall Street banker also threatened to fire employees trading cryptocurrencies, calling them “stupid” if they were to do so.
Dimon continues to be a non-believer, he revealed in remarks this week, but went on to state about that ‘fraud’ statement: “I regret making them.”
The truth is that cryptocurrencies are a complete unknown. Those people brought up on traditional asset structures, including myself, simply do not know how to mentally classify them. I understand Bitcoin, and its design as a medium of exchange was perfect. Satoshi Nakamoto's conception was brilliant. The fact that it turned into an asset class completely threw me. The fact is that there is a generation of the internet age that simply accepts algorithmic structures as having an intangible existence.
True, I have a strong preference for cryptocurrencies that have a use case, and tend to seek projects that are more akin to enterprises in purpose, rather than just being a Bitcoin clone. That, however, does not negate the value of the market as a whole. As for bubbles, I have been through many financial crashes over the years. Sometimes in stocks, sometimes in property. I have seen billions of dollars in value disappear overnight. Companies collapse with regularity, whole countries often go bankrupt. It hurts me to see the Dollar balance of my Steemit account evaporate slowly, but that is the way of the market. No gain without pain.
Buffet knew it 🙏 month later btcusd -10 000USD 😫