“If I could buy a five-year put on every one of the cryptocurrencies, I’d be glad to do it but I would never short a dime’s worth.” — Warren Buffett.
Now that legendary investor and Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett is retiring at the end of the year, let’s reexamine why he has never invested in Bitcoin.
Never forget, there’s the character Warren Buffett, who is framed as some folksy old-time investor just buyin’ good old stocks like you buy your fast food and television sets! Then there’s the reality where he’s much closer to someone like George Soros, Stanley Druckenmiller who famously “broke the Bank of England”, or Paul Tudor Jones.
Late last year, regarding his views on Bitcoin, he said, “I’ve seen people do stupid things all my life.”
Savage and based, old man.
Love or hate him, Buffett is the most successful investor of all time, so let’s see why he won’t invest in BTC:
Warren Buffett Says You Can’t “Analyze Fundamentals in the Crypto Space?”
Buffett’s method for investing is stubbornly simple: find what makes money (PE Ratios), understand how it works, and only buy it if it’s undervalued. He sticks to businesses with clear models, steady returns, and leaders who know what they’re doing.
That strategy hits a wall with crypto, where valuation is more opaque than fundamental. Buffett’s been blunt—he doesn’t get it, doesn’t want to, and sees no reason anyone else should.
(Source)
But there is a way to value a crypto coin properly; you start by asking these questions:
- Does anyone use this coin?
- If not, will it be used in the future?
- Is the team qualified?
- What’s the GitHub activity?
- Do developers have incentives ($$$) to keep this thing alive?
You can’t really predict the future, but you can evaluate viable use cases.
Is It True That Bitcoin is Fake Internet Money?
Buffett has made this claim before and is probably right to some extent. More than 90% of cryptocurrencies will likely end in either a final crash or a slow bleed.
Bitcoin is abstract internet money. But we wouldn’t call it any faker or more speculative than the currencies conjured up by central banks. They print money in very speculative ways to serve government interests and rob you of the value of your savings.
In its most basic form, Bitcoin represents an opt-out of inflationary currency printing.
Since it’s not only for speculation and has economic utility, we would say it’s much more than “fake internet money.”
Why Won’t Warren Buffett Short Bitcoin?
In a CNBC article from 2018, Warren Buffett explained why he’d never short Bitcoin: “Why in the world should I take a long or short position in something I don’t know anything about?”
Buffett is stuck in the mentality that built his wealth, and who could blame him? He didn’t invest in any information-age company until 2016. It’ll still be a while before blockchain tech has enough public impact for ol’ fuddy-duddies like him to back it wisely.
What About Gold?
Warren Buffett recently called gold and silver “unproductive” and their holders “entitled.”
Maybe this is a place where he and crypto investors can agree. Bitcoin has offered better returns than gold since 2013 and will continue to eat gold’s market cap. Still, his own company hasn’t outperformed gold in 27 years.
After utterly massive outperformance in the years and decades prior, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is about even with simply owning gold since 1998, or about 27 years ago. pic.twitter.com/1N8k3niPR1
— Lyn Alden (@LynAldenContact) April 10, 2025
Bitcoin has several advantages over shiny coins:
- It doesn’t weigh anything. Sending and carrying gold around to use as a currency is costly
- It costs nothing to store
- It can be sent anywhere around the world to anybody
- It’s divisible to many decimal places
- It can not be debased. No one even knows how much gold is in Ft. Knox.
Final Thought
Bitcoin is an Exodus from corrupt monetary policy. Although it won’t score you groceries at the supermarket, it can safeguard your savings.
Although Buffett will never buy Bitcoin, he has legendary wisdom and lessons on how to invest. Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.
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Key Takeaways
- Now that legendary investor and Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett is retiring at the end of the year, let’s reexamine why he has never invested in Bitcoin.
- Bitcoin is an Exodus from corrupt monetary policy. Although it won’t score you groceries at the supermarket, it can safeguard your savings.
The post Warren Buffett: Why You Still Should Never Invest In Bitcoin appeared first on 99Bitcoins.
