Charlie Munger, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) is among the critics weighing in on the issue and the sector as a whole as the latest crisis brought on by the collapse of FTX continues to wreak havoc on the cryptocurrency market.
In a November 15 interview with CNBC’s Becky Quick, Munger criticized cryptocurrency as a “terrible mix” of “partly fraud and partly illusion” and “a money that is ideal for kidnappers.”
According to Warren Buffett’s right-hand man: “It is a combination of deceit and illusion. I dislike both fraud and delusion, with the delusion maybe being more intense than the fraud. (…) A 12-year-old may become a billionaire by naming the currency Mungercoin and exchanging it. It is insane and demented.”
In addition, Munger said that “reputation is quite beneficial in the financial world. It is a grave error to ruin one’s reputation by associating with scumballs and scumball promotions. As he elaborated:
“In my own nation, it hurts me to see once-respected individuals aiding the existence of such things. This is a terrible situation. The nation does not need a currency suitable for kidnappers.”
According to the millionaire, “there are others who believe they must participate in every hot trade. Whether it is child prostitution or Bitcoin, they do not care. If something is popular, they want in on it. I find it completely absurd.”
Finbold noted in July that Munger has long been public about his antipathy to cryptocurrency, comparing it to venereal disease and stating that investors should “never touch” digital assets and that anybody selling them is “either crazy or evil.”
At a shareholder meeting in April 2022, he emphasized that he avoided “things that are foolish and nasty and make me look terrible relative to someone else – and Bitcoin accomplishes all three,” although Buffett had previously referred to cryptocurrencies as “rat poison.”
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