© Reuters
Investing.com – Legendary investor Warren Buffett, known for his informed investing but also his aversion to cryptocurrencies and other cryptocurrencies, once again lent himself to criticism of digital assets in an interview with to CNBC on Wednesday.
Referring to the rise in cryptocurrencies, the Oracle (NYSE:) of Omaha said “we’ve seen an explosion in gambling,” adding, “I like to bet on a football game if I’m sitting down and Watching it makes it more interesting. But I don’t think I want to make a living trying to bet against the house.”
“Something like the is a gambling chip that has no intrinsic value,” Buffett also said, noting that “that doesn’t stop people from wanting to play roulette.”
“The urge to participate in something that seems like easy money is a human instinct that’s been released,” Buffett explained.
“People like the idea of getting rich quick and I don’t blame them […]. It’s so human, and once released, you can’t put it back in the bottle.”
Recall that Buffett’s most famous quote about cryptocurrencies came during an interview in January 2018, when he chimed in after Charlie Munger, VP of Berkshire Hathaway, called bitcoin “death to the rats”, saying it was “probably rat poison squared”.
On Wednesday, when asked when bitcoin would be “revealed not just as rat poison squared […] but also as something that doesn’t exist,” Buffett dodged the question and likened cryptocurrencies to gambling:
“It’s about predicting when the speculation will end or when the gambling instinct will disappear,” he said.
Finally, Buffett implied that bitcoin users basically bet with their earnings:
“You had millions of people who received checks and money and who sat down at home and discovered that they could have a roulette wheel in their house” the investor declared during the interview.