Buffett, who once called BTC 'rat poison,' now invests $1.2 billion in encryption assets

“As far as Cryptocurrency is concerned, I can almost certainly say that they will come to a bad ending,” Buffett said in an interview with CNBC in 2018. “We don’t own any Cryptocurrency, we don’t short any Cryptocurrency, we will never own them.”

Source: fortune

Compiled by Ted Wu

Warren Buffett has always been clear about his dislike for Crypto Assets. However, Berkshire Hathaway invested millions of dollars in a Brazilian bank related to Crypto Assets - Nu Holdings Ltd., whose stock has risen by 34% this year.

Warren Buffett, CEO and Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, has repeatedly expressed his dislike for cryptocurrency.

At the 2018 Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting, Buffett referred to Bitcoin as the ‘rat poison squared’.

“As for Cryptocurrency, I can almost certainly say it will come to a bad ending,” Buffett said in a 2018 CNBC interview. “We don’t own any Cryptocurrency, we don’t short any Cryptocurrency, we will never own any Cryptocurrency.”“As for Cryptocurrency, I can almost certainly say it will come to a bad ending,” Buffett said in a 2018 CNBC interview. “We don’t own any Cryptocurrency, we don’t short any Cryptocurrency, we will never own any Cryptocurrency.”

However, recent reports indicate that Berkshire Hathaway and some of its investment managers may have become more lenient in their views on Crypto Assets.

Berkshire Hathaway invested in Nu Holdings, a Brazilian digital bank that has its own Cryptocurrency platform and supports the Cryptocurrency market. According to Nu’s information, Berkshire Hathaway initially participated in a $500 million G-round financing in 2021, followed by an investment of $2.5 billion.

In 2022, Nu launched its Cryptocurrency platform - Nubank Cripto, initially supporting Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Polygon. The platform now includes Uniswap and Chainlink, allowing users to send, receive, and exchange Cryptocurrency.

Nu Holdings did not immediately respond to Fortune magazine’s request for comment.

According to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing, Berkshire Hathaway increased its stake in Nu from 0.1% at the end of the fourth quarter of 2022 to 0.4% in the third quarter of the 2024 fiscal year.

Berkshire Hathaway and representatives of Warren Buffett did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fortune magazine.

This means that as of the end of the third quarter of fiscal year 2024, Berkshire Hathaway held over 86 million shares of Nu stock, worth close to 1.2 billion US dollars. Therefore, Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway are benefiting from a business he has claimed not to understand in the past.

“I have already caused a lot of trouble because of what I thought I knew,” Buffett said in an interview with CNBC in 2018. “So why should I go long or short on something I don’t understand at all?”

As of Wednesday noon, Nu Holdings’ stock price has risen by nearly 34% year-on-year. And now, Berkshire Hathaway appears to be making investments related to Crypto Assets, Buffett may need to rephrase his previous remarks that Crypto Assets will not have an impact.

“If you tell me that you own all the bitcoins in the world and offer to sell them to me for $25, I wouldn’t take it because what would I do with it?” Buffett said at the 2022 Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting. “I would have to sell it back to you, anyway. It doesn’t do anything.”

However, it should be noted that Berkshire Hathaway is generally conservative in its investment strategy. According to the company’s financial report for the fourth quarter of 2024, Berkshire Hathaway holds over $325 billion in cash and equivalents, with most of it in US Treasury bonds. This means that Berkshire Hathaway also avoids investing heavily in popular stocks even when the market is performing well.

“The reason why Berkshire has been successful over these years is because it has always maintained a boring way on this point,” said Mayer Schultz, managing director of boutique investment bank Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, in an interview with Alaina Botros of Fortune magazine in November 2024.