Buffett’s ‘Rat Poison’: Bitcoin Overtakes Berkshire Hathaway

Bitcoin Re-Enters Top Ten

Following a short absence Bitcoin (BTC) has made its way back into the top ten of global assets. After reaching US$ 821bn (AU$ 1.24 trillion) in market cap BTC has managed to knock Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway off the tenth spot.

It is worth noting that, other than Gold, Bitcoin is the only major asset on that list to be in the green. Bitcoin gained 141% in the past twelve months, reaching US$ 41,692 (AU$ 63,054) at the time of writing.

Unproductive Asset with A Bad Ending?

Of course, Warren Buffett and the late Charlie Munger have never really hidden their distaste for the digital asset industry. Munger, who had called Bitcoin rat poison, was outdone by his friend and fellow legendary investor Buffett when he called it “probably rat poison squared.” Saying it is not an “productive asset”, unlike real estate, land or shares in actual companies.

In 2018 Buffett said: “In terms of cryptocurrencies, generally, I can say with almost certainty that they will come to a bad ending once the euphoria wears off.”

Popular crypto lawyer John Deaton could not help but comment on the rat poison remarks:

What’s Next for Bitcoin?

While Berkshire Hathaway shares have performed well this year, a 15% gain is a long way off from Bitcoin’s gains. Bitcoin, meanwhile, is already close to passing Meta with less than US$ 1.5bn (AU$ 2.27bn) between them. It is not hard to see Bitcoin doubling in the bull-run and with the halving event – this would see it overtake Alphabet (Google) and have it sit in the fifth spot.

If you believe Bitcoin can pull off a 3.6x in the near future, it would knock Apple off the second spot. The most valuable company by market cap is currently valued at US$ 2.946 trillion (AU$ 4.47 trillion) “just” US$ 10.8 trillion (AU$ 16.3 trillion) behind the number one – Gold.