Bitcoin is a ‘disgusting’ product that comes ‘out of thin air,’ says Charlie Munger

Charlie Munger, billionaire investor and vice chair of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate, did not mince words when it came to describing his feelings on crypto.

In the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting streamed live on Saturday, Munger addressed questions from investors alongside his fellow billionaire. While Buffett said he would intentionally dodge a question on whether cryptocurrencies were “worthless artificial gold,” Munger’s response was more direct, positing that the questioner was just “waving the red flag at the bull” in addressing him.

“Of course I hate the Bitcoin success, and I don’t welcome a currency that’s so useful to kidnappers and extortionists and so forth,” said Munger. “Nor do I like just shuffling out a few extra billions and billions and billions of dollars to somebody who just invented a new financial product out of thin air.”

He added:

“The whole development is disgusting and contrary to the interest of civilization.”

Buffett acknowledged there might be “hundreds of thousands of people watching that own Bitcoin,” and only two shorting the coin, leading to his reticence in saying anything bearish on crypto. However, the billionaire investor has previously said “cryptocurrencies basically have no value” and he will never own any himself.

Munger, a 97-year-old worth more than $2 billion, is also a known Bitcoin (BTC) critic, claiming in February that the crypto asset is “too volatile to serve well as a medium of exchange.” The billionaire investor called cryptocurrencies “totally asinine” during a Daily Journal annual meeting with shareholders in 2018.