Bitcoin Is Up Almost 350% Since Warren Buffett Called it “Rat Poison Squared”
It has been less than three years since one of the most celebrated traditional investors, Warren Buffett, famously called bitcoin “rat poison squared.” While he envisioned the cryptocurrency’s demise at the time, BTC has so far survived, surged by over 300%, and its market capitalization has surpassed that of Buffett’s company – Berkshire Hathaway.
The Rat Poison That Ate Buffett’s Company
The year was 2018, bitcoin had just started to cool off after its parabolic price increase that led to unseen highs of about $20,000 per coin. In early May that year, BTC had already slashed its value by more than 50% to drop below $10,000.
Numerous bitcoin doubters and bashers frequently used the following months as an opportunity to lash out against the asset. Warren Buffett, once considered the richest man on Earth, was among them.
The Oracle of Omaha told CNBC that BTC is “probably rat poison squared.” He went even further by predicting a “bad ending” for all cryptocurrencies and said that he would buy a “five-year put” on all of them if he could.
At the time, the Class A shares of the company that he runs, Berkshire Hathaway, traded at about $295,000. The Class B stocks were just below $200. As mentioned above, bitcoin sat at approximately $9,500 on the same day the CNBC interview went out.
Fast-forward less than three years later, and both types of company shares have marked double-digit gains. BRK A now trades at $350,000, while BRK B goes for $233 – an average increase of 18%.
While those gains are quite respectable, one can see that the “rat poison squared” has done better. Quite a lot better, actually, at it has more than quadrupled its value since then.
BTC recently broke above $40,000 to a new all-time high of $42,000. To put it in a percentage perspective – it’s almost 350% higher now than in May of 2018.
Moreover, the monitoring resource Asset Dash says that bitcoin’s market capitalization has far surpassed that of Berkshire Hathaway. Buffett’s company occupies the 12th spot with a current valuation of $550 billion, while the cryptocurrency boasts a market cap of $752 billion at the time of this writing.
BTC Is Rat Square But For Cash And Buffett
Buffett’s rant has become infamous within the cryptocurrency community and outside of it. US fund manager and investor Bill Miller recently referred to Buffett’s words but said that bitcoin is “rat poison for cash.”
Max Keiser went a step further, and he told CryptoPotato that “bitcoin is rat poison and Warren Buffett is the rat.” The popular TV Host described Buffett as “a perfect example of someone who lives almost entirely on state handouts.”
“His company Berkshire Hathaway has been bailed out three times by the taxpayer, and without those handouts, Berkshire would have gone under long ago. It’s understandable he’s against Bitcoin because Bitcoin challenges the entire state-run fiat money Ponzi scheme that Warren leaches on.”
Featured Image Courtesy of Televisor UK
