Unmentionable crypto love? warren buffet has always held a discourse that is far from being kind to Bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrencies in general. His 2020 charity dinner with Tron (TRX) CEO Justin Sun didn’t shake the billionaire’s stance on the matter. In early May 2021, Warren Buffet continued to criticize Bitcoin at the annual shareholder meeting of Berkshire Hathaway. His partner Charlie Munger even said he hated Bitcoin’s success. But behind these anti-crypto speeches, the reality is quite different if we take the time to analyze the relationships that exist between the investments made by Berkshire Hathaway and cryptocurrencies.
Warren Buffet and Bitcoin: between criticism and indirect exposure to new finance
According to a securities statement filed on February 14, 2022 with the SEC, Berkshire Hathaway purchased $1 billion in Class A shares of Nubank during the fourth quarter of 2021. The company additionally sold $1.8 billion and $1.3 billion worth of Visa and Mastercard shares.
Why is this stock purchase of interest to the crypto ecosystem? Nubank acquired the trading platform easyinvest in September 2020. Easynvest offers since June 2021, an exchange-traded fund (ETF) following Bitcoin, the QBTC11. This ETF is backed by QR Asset Management. It is listed on the B3 stock exchange, the second oldest stock exchange in Brazil.
Nubank thus exposes itself indirectly via Easynvest to cryptocurrencies. This significant and recent acquisition of shares in the company by Berkshire Hathaway once again nuance the hostile position displayed by Warren Buffet towards Bitcoin and his cadets.
Berkshire Hathaway had already invested $500 million in Nubank in June 2021. The return on this investment amounted to 150 million dollars in December 2021, enough to soften the position of theOracle of Omaha about fintech and cryptocurrencies?
>> Play it safe, register on the reference of FTX crypto exchanges (affiliate link) <<
Bitcoin, Mr Buffet’s little guilty pleasure
Warren Buffet has not expressed until today any intention to sell its positions in NuBank, while Berkshire Hathaway has reduced according to the filing with the SEC, its exposure to traditional giants of electronic payments that are Visa and MasterCard.
Warren Buffet may have been a strong critic of cryptos in the past, refraining from investing directly in Bitcoin, but the companies that make up his investment portfolio have nevertheless plunged into the new finance.
This is notably the case of the fifth American bank U.S. Bancorp which launched in October 2021, a cryptocurrency custody service for its institutional investment managers. The same month, the Bank of America launched a cryptocurrency research initiative.
The famous personalities who had Warren Buffet as a financial adviser, and who possibly because of this influence hate Bitcoin and its cadets, will they end up opening their eyes to the ambiguous game of the Oracle of Omaha regarding crypto investments?
When the richest men in the world focus on an investment, it is not useless to be interested in it too! To not miss the opportunity of a lifetime, Register without delay on the FTX reference crypto exchange platform and benefit from a lifetime discount on your trading fees (affiliate link, see conditions on official website).