"I hate bitcoin's success": what Buffett and other market gurus are saying about cryptocurrencies

The crypto market capitalization in July for the first time exceeded $4 trillion. Major investment banks and asset managers on Wall Street are already finding ways to make money on this asset. However, not everyone shares the enthusiasm around bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, with market gurus' opinions ranging from guarded optimism to outright rejection. What prominent investors said about cryptocurrencies - in this material. 

One of the most famous critics of digital assets is investment patriarch Warren Buffett. He once called bitcoin "rat poison squared" and stated that he wouldn't buy all the world's bitcoins even for $25. His criticism is based on value investing principles - he prefers assets that generate cash flow, create jobs, or provide useful services - and argues that cryptocurrencies produce nothing but price volatility. 

Berkshire Hathaway vice chairman Charlie Munger (who died in 2023) supported a colleague: "Of course I hate the success of bitcoin and do not welcome a currency so useful to kidnappers and extortionists. I don't like just handing off a few billion dollars to someone who just invented a new financial product out of thin air. In my opinion, the whole thing is disgusting and against the interests of civilization";

Another fierce critic of cryptocurrencies was Tim Buckley. As CEO of Vanguard, he announced that the investment firm would not offer crypto products to clients. Buckley contrasted bitcoin, which generates no income or dividends, with stocks ("you are buying the future earnings of the company") and bonds ("you will be paid back and paid for the credit extended") and called digital coins "speculative assets", while his colleagues said that bitcoin could "create havoc" in investment portfolios. 

Buckley was succeeded as CEO in mid-2024 by Salim Ramji, who previously ran BlackRock's global ETF business and oversaw the launch of the bitcoin-focused iShares Bitcon Trust (IBIT). Vanguard excluded the launch of cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs). But in doing so, Vanguard became a major institutional shareholder of Strategy, the largest corporate holder of bitcoin, in July 2025. The paradoxical situation came about because of its index investing strategy: Strategy was included in the Nasdaq 100 and other indexes, and Vanguard's funds were required to buy its shares to match the benchmarks. 

The founder of the world's largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates Ray Dalio, has evolved from a fierce critic to a cautious supporter of bitcoin. In 2020, he warned of its high volatility and limited applications. But as early as 2021, in an essay What I Think of Bitcoin, he wrote: "I think bitcoin is a damn good invention. Creating a new type of money through a system that is programmed into a computer and has been in operation for about 10 years, rapidly gaining popularity both as a type of money and as a means of capital preservation, is an amazing achievement." 

Dalio's views on crypto have changed because of the growing risk of a debt crisis that threatens to trigger a devaluation of traditional money. According to him, investors will have to look for alternative forms of money - and above all it will be gold and bitcoin. 

But speaking of cryptocurrencies as an investment tool, Dalio warns of the risks: you need to be prepared for an 80% drop in bitcoin. He calls this cryptocurrency "a long-term option with a highly uncertain future." Dalio recommends allocating up to 2% of an investment portfolio to bitcoin - to protect against inflation. However, the investor considers gold a more reliable asset;

In the investment community, Kathy Wood, founder and CEO of investment firm ARK Invest, has earned a reputation as one of the most consistent supporters of cryptocurrencies. At least a quarter of her personal capital comes from bitcoin. In 2024, despite market fluctuations, Wood has continued to increase cryptocurrency's share of investments.

Under Wood's leadership, ARK Invest, along with investment firm 21Shares, was one of the first to bring a spot bitcoin-ETF (ARKB) to the U.S. market, which is up more than 25 percent in 2025. Wood continues to trade actively: over the summer, she sold shares of ARKB and cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase at all-time highs, while increasing her position in Ethereum-based funds.

Wood regularly emphasizes bitcoin's unique role as "digital gold" and its potential to outperform traditional assets. She is also optimistic about the development of the Ethereum ecosystem, supporting technological innovation and projecting the altcoin's capitalization to $20 trillion by 2032.

Michael Saylor, founder of Strategy, could be called a cryptocurrency fanatic. His company didn't just invest in bitcoin - it turned into the largest corporate holder of the cryptocurrency: as of July 2025, it has 607,770 bitcoins on its balance sheet. Strategy has triggered a "copycat effect": more than 60 public companies, including Trump Media & Technology Group, now also hold bitcoin.

Sailor presented his prediction of bitcoin rising to $13 million by 2045 for the first time at the Bitcoin 2024 conference. He later raised his price forecast to $21 million by 2046 - exactly 21 years from now, which symbolically coincides with bitcoin's maximum supply of 21 million coins. 

Saylor compares the adoption of bitcoin to historical technological breakthroughs: "It's like the advent of electricity and cars. People used to be skeptical of technological innovation too, and it's a very natural reaction." He believes that economics was a pseudoscience before the invention of bitcoin: "It's a quasi-religious liberal art, full of people's opinions, prejudices and biases. All economists before Satoshi (a pseudonym for the person or group of people who created bitcoin) tried to work out the laws of economics using seashells, glass beads, bits of paper and credit instruments." 

Some big players of the investment market have a pragmatic stance: they criticize bitcoin, but do not abandon crypto-assets. For example, Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, has long been a fierce critic of bitcoin, calling it a "fraud" and threatening to fire any JPMorgan employee for trading cryptocurrency: "I have always been categorically against cryptocurrencies, bitcoin and the like. The only real uses for them are criminals, drug dealers, ... money laundering, tax evasion". 

However, in 2025, the bank suddenly announced that it would allow customers to buy bitcoin. Cryptocurrency assets are now counted when valuing customers' equity, on par with stocks and real estate. In June 2025, the bank launched JPMD, a deposit token on the Base blockchain from Coinbase. 

Dimon stresses that his opinion on bitcoin remains unchanged. But he now recognizes the right of customers to make their own financial decisions, though he doesn't forget to warn about potential risks. Dimon continues to argue that bitcoin "has no intrinsic value." 

Sharmin Mossavar-Rahmani, chief investment officer of Goldman Sachs' asset management division, is also skeptical of cryptocurrencies: "We don't consider cryptocurrencies to be an investable asset class." Mossavar-Rahmani compares the cryptocurrency boom to the tulip fever of the 1630s and talks about the speculative nature of bitcoin.

At the same time, Goldman Sachs held roughly $2 billion in bitcoin and Ethereum-related ETFs at the end of 2024. In 2025, the bank continued to build its position by increasing its stake in the BlackRock Bitcoin ETF (IBIT) to 30.8 million shares, making it the largest institutional holder of IBIT. Matthew McDermott, global head of digital assets at Goldman Sachs, announced the expansion of cryptocurrency trading to meet growing demand from institutional clients. Goldman Sachs is already offering the first bitcoin-backed loan. McDermott notes that "a growing number of Goldman Sachs clients are looking to become more actively involved in trading digital assets." 

The result is a paradox: senior bank executives are publicly skeptical of cryptocurrencies, while operational units are actively investing in the cryptocurrency ecosystem and developing blockchain solutions. This situation reflects the transformation of the financial industry, where institutions are forced to strike a balance between maintaining reputational prudence and adapting to rapidly changing market conditions.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor