Warren Buffett

Buffett is so closely associated with Berkshire that its every move can easily be attributed to him. Yet the roles have changed. The annual report for 2025 records that Greg Abel became CEO, or chief executive officer, on January 1, 2026. Buffett remains chairman. The report makes Abel responsible for major investment decisions and capital allocation: deciding where the company puts its money. An older opinion from Buffett therefore cannot explain every decision the company makes today. [1]

Imagine a farm. Even if you never intend to sell it, it can keep growing crops and selling its harvest. Similarly, a rental building earns rent and a business supplies goods or services. Buffett favors these assets in his shareholder letter for 2011. He contrasts them with gold, which produces nothing extra simply by being held. This explains his valuation approach; it was not a text explicitly about Bitcoin at the time. Productive assets do not guarantee profits either: costs, operations and the price paid also matter. [2]

At the 2022 annual meeting, Buffett applied this reasoning to Bitcoin. He said he would decline a hypothetical offer of all the bitcoins in the world for a total of 25 USD. He contrasted that with stakes in farms and rental buildings. The example illustrated his preference for assets that produce something. The amount covered the entire imagined holding, not one BTC. Turning the statement into a prediction that bitcoin would fall to that price changes its meaning. [3]

Buffett explained that he would have to sell the bitcoins to somebody else again. In his argument, the holder’s return depends on that resale. This supports his investment choice; it is not a calculation of a future market price with a deadline. Readers can agree or debate how monetary value arises. A subsequent rise or fall in price, however, does not itself answer whether an asset produces anything. [3]

The Bitcoin Whitepaper asks how people can send electronic payments without a central intermediary and prevent double spending: using the same money twice. It promises holders no dividend, a share of company profits paid out to shareholders. Rewards are linked to creating blocks, not merely owning coins. The useful distinction is that making a payment and earning income from ownership are different functions. The absence of dividends does not itself disprove payment utility; working payments do not establish a fair price for BTC either. [4]

News that Berkshire owns shares in a financial company may sound like a change in Buffett’s position. First check what the document actually shows. Form 13F is a filing for the SEC, the US securities regulator. It reports specified securities managed by an institutional investment manager, not all of that manager’s assets. A company filing does not automatically describe Buffett’s personal wealth. And owning company shares is not direct bitcoin ownership; that conclusion needs evidence identifying the particular asset and owner. [5]

Form 13F gives share counts and their market value at quarter-end. Imagine buying shares earlier and their price then rising: the reported value will differ from your original expenditure. Dividing that value by the number of shares therefore does not reveal what Buffett paid. The usual filing deadline is 45 days after quarter-end. Holdings may have changed by the time you read the report; the form alone does not show trades after its reference date. [5]

Charlie Munger also speaks in the recording of the 2022 meeting. Both reject Bitcoin, but each sentence belongs to its speaker; combining their words into one Buffett quotation is misleading. Look at who said what and how they explained it. Buffett’s approach invites thought about income and value. Bitcoin transactions are accepted according to checks of network rules, however, not a famous investor’s approval. Understanding his criticism requires neither unquestioning agreement nor ridicule of its author. [3] [4]