Buffett Calls Bitcoin a 'Gambling Device'

Bitcoin got another bashing from the Sage of Omaha.

Warren Buffett told reporters at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, that he still couldn't support bitcoin.

“It’s a gambling device ... there’s been a lot of frauds connected with it. There’s been disappearances, so there’s a lot lost on it. Bitcoin hasn’t produced anything,” he said. “It doesn’t do anything. It just sits there. It’s like a seashell or something, and that is not an investment to me."

Buffett also pointed to a button on his jacket and said that he could call it a token and charge $1,000 for it, wrote CNBC.

"What I’ll have here is a little token ... I’ll offer it to you for $1,000, and I’ll see if I can get the price up to $2,000 by the end of the day. ... But the button has one use and it’s a very limited use,” he said.

Buffett has previously stated that bitcoin is a "delusion" but that blockchain is ingenious. Last year he called it "rat poison squared" and said it was a nonproductive asset.

When asked at this month's meeting if he’d ever be involved in the technology, he replied: "I wouldn’t be the person to be a big leader in blockchain."

Warren Buffett image via Shutterstock