This year has been an important one for Bitcoin — and for cryptocurrencies in general. Not only did Bitcoin’s price hit an all-time high of over $63,000 in April, it has also made some big steps toward mainstream acceptance. These include Paypal adoption and the first 100% crypto Visa transaction.
While its price has fallen considerably in recent months, Bitcoin is still up over 300% from this time last year. That said, Bitcoin still has some of the biggest high-profile critics — including investment guru, Warren Buffett.
Back in 2018, Buffett described Bitcoin as “probably rat poison squared.” Here are some of the reasons why.
1. It doesn’t have any intrinsic value
Warren Buffett likes companies and assets that generate value in and of themselves. For example, if you invest in a farm, there is value in what that farm produces each year — even if the stock itself does not gain value.
“If you buy something like Bitcoin or some cryptocurrency, you don’t have anything that is producing anything,” Buffett said a few years ago. He told Yahoo Finance, “You’re just hoping the next guy pays more. And you only feel you’ll find the next guy to pay more if he thinks he’s going to find someone that’s going to pay more.”
This is the same reason that Buffett doesn’t like gold.
2. He only invests in things he understands
One of the reasons for the concern over a cryptocurrency bubble is that many people are buying cryptocurrencies without fully understanding the technology behind them. With over 10,000 different cryptocurrencies currently on the market, a large number of those coins are likely to fail. And as an investor, building an understanding of what blockchain can do and how it works is one way you can start to pick the wheat from the chaff.
Buffett told CNBC in 2018, “I get into enough trouble with things I think I know something about. Why in the world should I take a long or short position in something I don’t know anything about?”
Buffett did not initially jump into tech stocks like Apple, Facebook, or Microsoft for the same reason. That doesn’t mean those stocks were bad investments, simply that his tried-and-tested investment strategy led him in a different direction.
Cryptocurrencies are just one of many possible ways you can invest your money, all with varying degrees of risk. What matters is to set your own goals and work out the best strategy for you.
3. He doesn’t think it works as a currency
When Bitcoin first launched in 2009, it promised to be the world’s first decentralized digital currency. It opened the way for you to transfer money to another person without needing a bank or government to support the transaction.
Buffett told CNBC that it will never work as a currency. “It is not a durable means of exchange, it’s not a store of value,” he said.
It is an understandable perspective. Indeed, one of the reasons Bitcoin has spawned so many other cryptocurrencies is that it isn’t a great digital currency. Even billionaire investor Mark Cuban, who…
Read more:Why Warren Buffett Is So Against Bitcoin
