Charlie Munger Compared Bitcoin to Gold But He Won’t Buy Either
Charlie Munger, the longtime Warren Buffett partner, Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, and BTC critique, has lashed out against the cryptocurrency once again. During a recent interview, the executive dismissed bitcoin’s chances of becoming a medium of exchange but made a rather compelling comparison with gold.
Munger Blasts BTC’s Price Fluctuations
The 97-year-old billionaire investor spoke about the recent developments in the stock markets and the crypto field covered by CNBC. More specifically, he commented on BTC’s price reaching and exceeding $50,000 and the chances of Tesla’s fully diluted enterprise value to top $1 trillion.
“Well, I have the same difficulty that Samuel Johnson once had when he got a similar question, he said, ‘I can’t decide the order of precedency between a flea and a louse,” and I feel the same way about those choices. I don’t know which is worse.”
Berkshire Hathaway’s VC also touched upon BTC’s notorious volatility as the asset is no stranger to double-digit percentage movements daily. Munger believes that these fluctuations will ultimately prevent bitcoin from serving as “the medium of exchange for the world.”
He called BTC the “artificial substitute for gold,” which seemed like the most positive comment he has ever made towards the cryptocurrency. However, he added that “since I never buy any gold, I never buy any bitcoin.”
“Bitcoin reminds me of what Oscar Wilde said about fox hunting. He said it was the pursuit of the uneatable by the unspeakable.” – Munger concluded.
Promoting BTC on Twitter is Wrong
In another topic of discussion that brought bitcoin and Tesla together, the CEO of the European fintech company Klarna, Sebastian Siemiatkowski, touched upon the social media promotional posts about BTC.
While he believes that the cryptocurrency is an “interesting technology,” he considers the actions by Tesla’s Elon Musk to update his Twitter bio to display Bitcoin or other similar endeavors as “deeply” worrying.
“If I go on Twitter and search for bitcoin, I can see people writing: ‘Buy now, or you’re going to miss the biggest opportunity of your life.’ If I would take Klarna stock and advertise it with similar writing, I would get a fine, or I would even be put to jail. I am very surprised why regulators aren’t chasing these elements.”
Tesla’s $1.5 billion allocation in BTC opened the door for numerous traditional media outlets to discuss the relationship between the two and draw comparisons by their performance.
