Berkshire Hathaway vice-chairman says China was right to launch a crackdown on cryptocurrency
Insurance and conglomerate tycoon Charlie Munger, the billionaire partner of legendary investor Warren Buffet, wants a ban on Bitcoin.
Munger, who is the vice-chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, which owns Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Company (BHSI), has been a fierce critic of cryptocurrencies.
Munger believes that people involved in crypto are only interested in themselves - rather than the customer. He added that he would not want ”any one of them to marry into my family”.
In his latest attack on cryptocurrency this month (December 2021), Munger was reported by newspaper Australian Financial Review as having said: “I wish they’d never been invented.
“I admire the Chinese. I think they made the correct decision, which was to simply ban them.”
Bitcoin ‘disgusting’
In May this year, during a Q&A at Berkshire’s annual shareholder meeting, Munger labelled cryptocurrency ”disgusting”.
“Of course I hate the Bitcoin success” he said. “I don’t welcome a currency that’s so useful to kidnappers and extortionists and so forth. Nor do I like just shuffling out extra billions of dollars to somebody who just invented a new financial product out of thin air.
“I think I should say modestly that the whole damn development is disgusting and contrary to the interests of civilisation.”
Insurance embraces crypto
Despite Munger’s disgust at cryptocurrency, the insurance industry continues to embrace the innovation.
In March 2020, meanwhile, a Lloyd’s syndicate partnered with a cyrptocurrency broker to protect online wallets.
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