Warren Buffett: Cryptocurrency 'has no value' – 'I don't own any and never will'
- The Berkshire Hathaway CEO and chairman told CNBC he's staying away from cryptocurrencies.
- "Cryptocurrencies basically have no value and they don't produce anything," he told CNBC's Becky Quick in a Squawk Box interview.
- "I don't own any cryptocurrency and I never will," he added.
Berkshire Hathaway CEO and Chairman Warren Buffett on Monday reaffirmed his aversion to cryptocurrencies.
"Cryptocurrencies basically have no value and they don't produce anything," he told CNBC's Becky Quick in a "Squawk Box" interview. "In terms of value: zero."
"I don't have any cryptocurrency and I never will," added Buffett, who was interviewed two days after he released his annual shareholder letter.
Buffett has been a long-time critic of the world's largest digital coin. He called bitcoin "probably rat poison squared," ahead of the 2018 Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholder meeting. A "mirage," "not a currency," and "tulips" are among the descriptors Buffett has used for bitcoin, according to CNBC's Warren Buffett Archive.
Berkshire Vice Chairman Charlie Munger has called it a "turd," and said that trading cryptocurrencies is "just dementia."
Last year, in an attempt to change Buffett's mind, Justin Sun, founder of cryptocurrency TRON and CEO of file-sharing company BitTorrent, bid $4.57 million in a charity auction to have a meal with the bitcoin skeptic.
"When Justin and four friends came, they behaved perfectly and we had a very friendly 3½-hour dinner and the whole thing was a very friendly exchange of ideas," Buffett said. He added that neither he nor Sun changed their stance on bitcoin.