American business tycoon and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffet has said that buying the cryptocurrency — Bitcoin and others is not an investment, but a gamble.
Speaking to Yahoo Finance in an interview during his company’s annual shareholder meeting, Buffet explained why buying Bitcoin isn’t an investment.
“There are two kinds of items that people buy and think they’re investing, one is investing and the other [Bitcoin] isn’t.”
According to the 87-year-old investor, “If you buy something like a farm, an apartment house, or interest in a business … you can do that on a private basis… and it’s a perfectly satisfactory investment. You look at the investment itself to deliver the return to you. Now, if you buy something like Bitcoin or some cryptocurrency, you don’t have anything that has produced anything. You’re just hoping the next guy pays more.”
He pointed out there’s nothing wrong with speculating, however, in his view, such is like gambling. Buffet stressed that if you want to gamble, someone else might come along and pay more in the future which makes it like gambling, and not investing, Some years ago, he described cryptocurrency as a “mirage,” arguing that it was a “joke” to assign a value to something just because it can be used to transmit money.
Nevertheless, Buffet admitted he knows nothing about cryptocurrencies, but “can almost say with certainty that they will come to a bad ending.”
It can be recalled in October 2017, Buffet warned that one can’t value Bitcoin because it’s not a value-producing asset. The so-called ‘Oracle of Omaha’ isn’t the only one who has voiced out loud his stance on cryptocurrency.
Bill Harris, PayPal CEO had called Bitcoin a “scam.” But it is worth mentioning that top investors like Binance CEO, Zhao Changpeng believe in the value of cryptocurrency and think Warren Buffet and others are “making a big mistake.”
