Warren Buffett’s longtime business colleague, Charlie Munger, has called out “wretched excess” in both venture capital and Bitcoin and has suggested that cryptocurrencies be prohibited. Since 1978, he has served as vice-chairman of Warren Buffett’s corporation Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
Munger, 98, addressed at the annual meeting of Daily Journal Corp, the Los Angeles newspaper publisher and provider of courthouse software that he chairs while fielding nearly two hours of questions.
“I wish it had been banned immediately, and I admire the Chinese for banning it,” Munger said at the Daily Journal Corp.’s annual meeting, which was held remotely, on Wednesday. “I certainly didn’t invest in crypto. I’m proud of the fact I’ve avoided it. It’s like a venereal disease or something. I just regard it as beneath contempt.”
The 98-year-old billionaire has been a vocal opponent of Bitcoin, referring to it as “rat poison” in the past. He also warned on Wednesday about other “wretched” market excesses, such as the influx of venture capital into startups.
“Certainly the great short squeeze in GameStop was wretched excess, certainly the Bitcoin thing is wretched excess,” Munger said. “I would argue that venture capital is throwing too much money too fast, and there’s a considerable wretched excess in venture capital and other forms of private equity.”
He added,
“I certainly didn’t invest in crypto. I’m proud of the fact that I avoided it. It’s like some venereal disease. I just regard it as beneath contempt. Some people think it’s modernity, and they welcome a currency that’s so useful in extortions and kidnappings or tax evasion,”
Munger has previously equated cryptocurrencies to gambling. He expressed the same sentiment on Wednesday, saying that bitcoin is controlled by a group of people who want to get rich quickly while contributing very little to civilization.
Is his opinion on Bitcoin correct?
Well, let’s put it this way. Munger is almost 100. The future is definitely not his. And the technology of tomorrow may be a little out of reach for the people of yesterday. Munger is without a doubt a very accomplished man, but his opinion about cryptocurrencies may come from some bitter sense of competition. Berkshire Hathaway’s return on investments is tiny compared to Bitcoin (BTC), or other cryptocurrencies.
Elon Musk took to Twitter to address Munger’s remarks. Musk said that Munger didn’t have confidence in Tesla, and said that it would fail. Although it made him sad, Musk replied that it was still worth trying.
This example says a lot about Munger and his inclinations of the future. Future tech doesn’t seem to be his forte, and as such his remarks about Bitcoin, without a doubt, should be taken with a lit of salt.