Berkshire Hathaway’s Charlie Munger attacked the digital asset space with vigor in light of the recent failure of the cryptocurrency exchange at FTX.
“This is partly a scam and partly a distraction,” noted Munger, Berkshire Hathaway’s vice chairman of the board, speaking to the CNBC network on Tuesday. “This is a bad combination. I don’t like the shenanigans, nor do I like the sideshow. And parachuting can end up much more extreme than fraud.”
The 98-year-old billionaire is a traditional critic of Bitcoin, which he has called a “stupid and vicious” project. He has also previously called for a ban on cryptocurrencies.
The demise of FTX has shaken up the crypto industry, leaving a power vacuum in the industry at a time when regulators are considering ways to oversee it. FTX Group has announced that its bankruptcy affects over 1 million creditors.
Warren Buffett’s “lieutenant” was interviewed after news broke that Berkshire Hathaway had bought a $5 billion stake in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, showing confidence in the future of cutting-edge technologies despite the fact that semiconductor (chip) manufacturers are experiencing a bad year due to the global economic malaise.
