Following the waves of negative comments on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, a billionaire investor who is also Warren Buffet’s deputy declared Bitcoin as a “noxious poison” that ought to be destroyed by the U.S. government.
Charlie Munger, 94 years old, is an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist. For four decades, he has been the Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate controlled by Warren Buffett, and much like his business partner, Munger shares a similar hatred for cryptocurrencies.
At the annual meeting of Daily Journal Corporation, the Los Angeles-based news publication that Munger heads, the billionaire voiced out his detestation for Bitcoin and declared that he would not have anything to do with the digital currency.
Munger’s response was an answer to a question that was posed by a member of the audience, in which he blasted cryptocurrencies as being stupid.
“I regard the Bitcoin craze as totally asinine,” Munger claimed.
“I never considered for one second having anything to do with it. I detested it the moment it was raised. It’s just disgusting. Bitcoin is noxious poison.”
To provide some context on Munger’s claims, the cryptocurrency market has had an impressive rally in 2017 – increasing by over 20-fold to hit a total market cap of over $800 billion at one point. The price of Bitcoin increased from just under a thousand dollars to almost $20,000 – a 2,000% increase.
Although Bitcoin had a rather violent correction in the beginning of 2018, the price of the digital currency is still up by over 1,000% compared to the beginning of 2017.
Munger also expressed his dissatisfaction towards the U.S. government, which has been rather “lenient” when it came to cryptocurrency regulations.
“Our government’s lax approach to it is wrong. The right answer with stuff that bad is to step on it hard.” Munger emphasized, citing China’s authoritative approach towards cryptocurrencies.
“I expect the world to do silly things from time to time because everybody wants easy money. It’s just disgusting that people are taken in by something like this.” ~ Charlie Munger
One Naysayer Among Many Others
Regardless of his harsh attacks on Bitcoin, Munger is not the first financial professional who has criticized cryptocurrencies. His partner, Warren Buffet, is a long-time opponent of Bitcoin, calling it a “mirage” and warning people to “stay away” from it.
Last year, Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase made the infamous claim that Bitcoin is a “fraud”. He even went as far as to say that he would fire employees if he found out that they were investing in the virtual currency.
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