Berkshire Hathaway vice chair labels bitcoin ‘stupid’ and ‘evil’

Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Charlie Munger said bitcoin was “stupid” and “evil” during his company’s annual shareholder meeting on Saturday. 

“In my life, I try to avoid things that are stupid, and evil, and make me look bad in comparison to someone else, and bitcoin does all three,” Munger said at the meeting in Nebraska,, according to Fox Business News. 

“In the first place, it’s stupid because it’s very likely to go to zero, and it’s evil because it undermines the Federal Reserve System and national currency system, which we desperately need to maintain its integrity and government control and so on,” he added. 

On Saturday, Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett concurred with Munger’s assessment, claiming anyone who thinks the U.S. would move away from the dollar to cryptocurrency is “out of their minds.” 

“If you told me you own all of the bitcoin in the world and you offered it to me for $25, I wouldn’t take it because what would I do with it?” the CEO said, according to CNBC. 

“We can put up Berkshirecoins or put up Berkshire money … but in the end, this is money, and there’s no reason in the world why the United States currency, which people trust more … this is the only thing that’s money,” Buffet added, per Fox Business. 

While bitcoin has garnered increasing acceptance in more traditional financial realms in recent years, Munger has long been a critic, referring to it as a “venereal disease” earlier this year, CNN reported.