Calling Bitcoins a "mirage," legendary investor Warren Buffet warned against the digital currency in an interview on CNBC's "Squawk Box." He said investors should "stay away" from the crypto-currency, VentureBeat reported.
He said Bitcoins are only a medium to send money and that it does not have any intrinsic value. In response to a query about the digital currency from Dan Gilbert, Founder of Quicken Loans, Buffet said, "It's a method of transmitting money. It's a very effective way of transmitting money and you can do it anonymously and all that. A check is a way of transmitting money, too. Are checks worth a whole lot of money just because they can transmit money? Are money orders? You can transmit money by money orders. People do it. I hope bitcoin becomes a better way of doing it, but you can replicate it a bunch of different ways and it will be. The idea that it has some huge intrinsic value is just a joke in my view."
However, venture capitalist and Bitcoin investor Marc Andreessen did not agree with Buffet's view. He tweeted, "Warren has gone out of his way for decades to avoid understanding new technology. Not a surprising result."
Investment company Belpoint Chief Strategist David Nelson told VentureBeat in an interview that both investors were correct. Agreeing with Andreessen, he said that Buffet made a bet on only a single tech stock, IBM, which has "probably the worst stock in the S&P 500." However, he is also not entirely sold out on the crypto-currency in the same way as Buffet. He said, "I was kind of getting excited about it, but then, when it was clear it was hackable, it became a no-go." Like Buffet, he would also advice those who were interested in pouring money on the digital currency to "stay away," the report said.
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