Buffett once regarded Bitcoin as "rat poison," while his company has splurged $1.2 billion in the crypto market

Original title: Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway takes a sip of the crypto ‘rat poison’ he once said he would never go near

Source: fortune

Original compilation: Ted Wu

Warren Buffett has always been clear about his dislike for cryptocurrencies. However, Berkshire Hathaway has invested millions of dollars in a Brazilian bank, Nu Holdings Ltd., which is related to cryptocurrencies. The stock of the company has increased by 34% this year.

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

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

“As for cryptocurrencies, I can almost say with certainty that they will come to a bad ending,” Buffett said in a 2018 interview with CNBC. “We don’t own any cryptocurrency, we don’t short cryptocurrency, we’ll never have a position in them.” “As for cryptocurrencies, I can almost say with certainty that they will come to a bad ending,” Buffett said in a 2018 interview with CNBC. “We don’t own any cryptocurrency, we don’t short cryptocurrency, we’ll never have a position in them.”

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

Berkshire Hathaway has invested in Nu Holdings, a Brazilian digital bank that has its own cryptocurrency platform and supports the cryptocurrency market. According to information from Nu, Berkshire Hathaway initially participated in a $500 million G-round financing in 2021, followed by an additional 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 cryptocurrencies.

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

According to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, 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 Buffett’s representatives did not immediately respond to Fortune magazine’s request for comment.

This means that as of the end of the third quarter of fiscal year 2024, Berkshire Hathaway held over 86 million shares of Nu, worth nearly $1.2 billion. As a result, Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway are benefiting from a business that he previously claimed not to understand.

“I have already caused a lot of trouble because I thought I understood things,” Buffett said in an interview with CNBC in 2018. “So why should I go long or short on things that 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 seems to be making investments related to cryptocurrency, and Buffett may need to reword his previous remarks that cryptocurrency will not have an impact.

“If you told me you had all the bitcoins in the world and wanted 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, no matter what. It doesn’t do anything.”

However, it is important to note that Berkshire Hathaway is generally more conservative in its investment strategy. According to the company’s financial statements for the fourth quarter of 2024, Berkshire Hathaway holds over $325 billion in cash and equivalents, most of which are U.S. Treasury bonds. This means that Berkshire Hathaway also avoids heavy investment in popular stocks even as the market continues to perform well.

“The reason Berkshire has been successful over these years is precisely because it has consistently maintained a boring manner,” said Mayer Schultze, Managing Director of boutique investment bank Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, in an interview with Alaina Botros of Fortune magazine in November 2024.

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