Billionaire investor Warren Buffett has drawn the ire of the cryptocurrency community with a recent claim that Bitcoin is \u201crat poison squared.\u201d Buffett\u2019s statements, made at the 2018 Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholder meeting on May 5, led to a direct response from venture capitalist Fred Wilson and resulted in the installation of pro-Bitcoin billboards outside of Buffett\u2019s Omaha office.<\/p>\n
Buffett has previously stated<\/a> that purchasing cryptocurrency is a \u201cgame\u201d and a \u201cgamble,\u201d and doesn\u2019t produce anything. According to Buffett, cryptocurrencies are not a productive investment, predicting<\/a> that:<\/p>\n “Cryptocurrencies will come to bad endings.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The 87-year-old business magnate\u2019s perspective on cryptocurrency captured the attention of venture capitalist and Union Square Ventures co-founder Fred Wilson, who responded to Buffet at the recent Consensus 2018 conference.<\/p>\n Buffett\u2019s statements on cryptocurrency were brought up on day three of Consensus<\/a> during a discussion between Wilson and Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan. Wilson, a digital asset advocate, implied that Buffett does not possess a complete understanding of cryptocurrencies:<\/p>\n \u201cCalling it rat poison, to me, suggests that they haven\u2019t taken the time to really understand what\u2019s going on here. If all you think of it as is some new asset class and some new thing that you can trade, then I think you\u2019ll come to that conclusion.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Wilson published a response<\/a> to Buffett on his blog earlier in May, stating that Buffett doesn\u2019t know how to value the key benefit of cryptocurrencies \u2014 crypto-assets produce decentralized infrastructure.<\/p>\n According to Wilson, Buffett sees investing in cryptocurrencies as equivalent to \u201cbaseball trading card or some other form of collectible.\u201d In his open letter Wilson advises that the Berkshire Hathaway chairman take time to learn about the potential of the technology that drives crypto-assets:<\/p>\n \u201cI doubt Warren and Charlie will read this post. But if they do, the one thing I would hope they take from it is that instead of disparaging crypto assets with words like rat poison and dementia, they take a little bit of time to understand that what we are seeing here is the creation of a new internet, built upon protocols that allow for decentralized networks to form and tokens that allow people and companies to be compensated for that formation. \u201c<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Wilson\u2019s open letter isn\u2019t the only response to Buffett\u2019s anti-crypto statements. Genesis Mining co-founder Marco Krohn recently purchased prime advertising space directly outside of Buffett\u2019s Omaha office:<\/p>\n Some new billboards outside of Warren Buffetts office! \ud83d\ude42 — Marco Krohn (@mkrohn5) May 16, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\nWilson: Buffet Doesn\u2019t Understand What is Going on<\/h2>\n
Genesis Mining Co-Founder Trolls Buffett With Pro-Bitcoin Billboards<\/h2>\n
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#GenesisMining<\/a> #Bitcoin<\/a> #BitcoinAwareness<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/MxuKLwRS8L<\/a><\/p>\n