What do billionaires think about Bitcoin?

Bill Gates has always been skeptical of Bitcoin, Warren Buffett called it "rat poison," while Elon Musk once called Bitcoin "a good thing."

The world's most popular cryptocurrency has been steadily rising recently. On March 5th, the price of Bitcoin briefly surpassed $68,800 and then reached $69,000 per coin – its highest level in history.

Since its launch in 2008, Bitcoin has remained controversial due to its volatile price, lack of regulation, and difficulty in tracking transactions. Over the past 16 years, this digital currency has attracted a large following, but has also received considerable criticism and skepticism. Global billionaires also hold differing views on Bitcoin.

Elon Musk

Elon Musk is famous for his tweets and statements that have shaken the cryptocurrency market. However, his views on Bitcoin are quite contradictory. In early 2021, while chatting on the audio social media app Clubhouse, the billionaire said, "Bitcoin is a good thing" and that he "was late to the party."

Tesla, the electric car company he runs, also bought billions of dollars worth of Bitcoin and once allowed customers to pay with the cryptocurrency. However, they later announced they would stop accepting it, citing environmental concerns about Bitcoin mining.

In late 2021, Musk also criticized Bitcoin as merely a tool to empower the wealthy. He further warned that cryptocurrencies are not a serious financial investment option.

Last year, Tesla sold all of its Bitcoin holdings. Musk also announced he was losing interest in cryptocurrency and shifting his focus to AI.

Warren Buffett

The legendary investor has a rather harsh stance when it comes to Bitcoin. He has called the cryptocurrency "rat poison" and "a gambling tool."

At the 2019 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting, the billionaire stated: "It does nothing. It just sits there. Like a seashell or something like that. To me, it's not an investment."

At the 2022 Annual General Meeting, Buffett once again mentioned Bitcoin. "Whether it goes up or down in the next 5 or 10 years, I don't know. But one thing I'm pretty sure of is that it doesn't create anything," he said. Because, according to Buffett, for an asset to have value, it "needs to provide something to someone."

Bill Gates

Like his longtime friend Warren Buffett, the Microsoft co-founder has always been skeptical about Bitcoin. He worries about the volatile nature of this digital currency, especially how Bitcoin is heavily influenced by the social media actions of celebrities, such as Elon Musk.

In a 2021 interview with Bloomberg , Gates warned against investing in Bitcoin: "Elon has a lot of money. He's also very shrewd. If you don't have as much money as Elon, be careful."

On the Reddit forum in 2022, when asked about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general, he stated that they do not provide the same value to society as other investments. Gates also affirmed that he does not own any cryptocurrency.

Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss

The Winklevoss brothers were the world's first Bitcoin billionaires. They rose to fame in 2006 when they sued Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, accusing him of stealing their social network idea. By 2009, they were awarded $65 million in compensation.

The two brothers invested $11 million in Bitcoin in 2013. The amount of cryptocurrency they bought at that time was equivalent to 1% of the Bitcoin in circulation.

Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss call Bitcoin the "trade of the century." Both believe Bitcoin is "better than gold" and the missing piece of the digital economy .

"I remember people saying Facebook was a joke before," Tyler told the Financial Times in 2016. "We felt like we were in a movie with a similar plot, only with different actors."

Mark said

Mark Cuban at an event in Las Vegas in January 2024. Photo: Reuters — Mark Cuban at an event in Las Vegas in January 2024. Photo: *Reuters*

Billionaire investor Mark Cuban doesn't believe in Bitcoin. He once remarked that cryptocurrency proponents act like "religious worshippers" and that Bitcoin "has no chance" of becoming a reliable currency.

In a 2020 Forbes article , Cuban asserted: "The view that Bitcoin is a store of value like gold sounds more like a belief than a solution. Bitcoin will never be a hedge against risk." The billionaire even compared Bitcoin to a banana, saying he would prefer eating a banana.

Carl Icahn

In 2018, on CNBC, billionaire investor Carl Icahn remarked that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were "a joke." "I don't like cryptocurrencies, maybe because I don't understand them," he explained. Icahn questioned how these cryptocurrencies were regulated and said he was too old to be involved in the field.

However, by 2021, the billionaire seemed to have changed his mind. In an interview with Bloomberg , Icahn said he was researching Bitcoin, Ethereum, and cryptocurrencies in general to find opportunities. The 88-year-old billionaire also asserted that those who criticize cryptocurrencies for lacking fundamental value are "misled."

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