Bitcoin A Bad Investment, Claim Warren Buffett And Bill Gates?

The Bitcoin price isn’t doing as well as we anticipated moving through the weekend, falling back to $9300 after reaching close to $10000 – and Warren Buffett and Bill Gates are not fans of the investment opportunity.

By design, Bitcoin price and other cryptocurrencies like it are very difficult to anticipate in terms of value. With a price determined entirely off of speculation rather than being tied to real-world statistics like a company’s performance, it becomes clear why the price has been all over the place over the last few years. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have taken turns criticizing the currency over the past few days – with their negative opinions perhaps part of the reason for the recent downturn in value.

According to Bill Gates, “[he] would short it if there was an easy way to do it…” providing one of the most bearish statements we’ve seen from the Microsoft founder and Berkshire directors thus far.

Bill Gates has also been known for cooperating with the government in defence matters, with many criticizing him for his apparent lack of care when protecting the privacy of customer data when compelled by the legislature for information. His concerns regarding Bitcoin price also stem from a security standpoint with concerns that the anonymity and lack of traceability of the currency may contribute to funding illegal activities – stating it has “caused deaths in a fairly direct way.”

Warren Buffett is an incredibly capable investor, but it’s important to take his criticism with a grain of salt – considering the fact that the investment mogul has previously rebuffed Internet and technology companies due to a lack of understanding of the companies.

However, considering that Berkshire Hathaway’s largest holding at this point is Apple who is largely known for their successful smartphones, Buffett admitted that he made the wrong decision regarding companies like Amazon and Google.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

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All interesting stuff - but, let’s not overlook the fact that BG and WB are both well-reported as sceptics of cryptocurrencies.

Buffets ‘right-hand-man’ at Berkshire Hathaway went quite a few steps further in his criticism of cryptocurrency traders by describing their actions as “…just dementia. It’s like somebody else is trading turds and you decide you can’t be left out…” . Well thank you for that valuable insight Charlie Munger!

Meanwhile, in the county and state I’ve just returned from after 18 months, someone on the western side of the pond seems to have a somewhat opposing view of Bitcoin…

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“NOT SO!” - say Goldman Sachs, who have confirmed they will open a cryptocurrency trading desk ‘within the next few weeks’.

This follows strong demand from hedge funds, HNWIs, etc. who want to be able to use Goldman to trade. Clearly Goldman are not of the view that this is a passing fad and can no longer sit on the side-lines as other businesses make very significant profits.