The annual Berkshire Hathaway Inc BRKBRK shareholder meeting drew thousands to Omaha, Nebraska each year to hear investing wisdom and stories from Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger.
The event also featured a highly anticipated question-and-answer session with audience members, which featured this legendary Munger anti-crypto quote in 2022.
What Happened: The 2024 annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting was a significant one. It was the first to not feature Munger sitting beside Buffett. Munger passed away in November 2023 at the age of 99.
Many Berkshire Hathaway investors or those that closely follow the company will remember the sharp wit and quotable anecdotes from Munger along the way.
In 2022, an audience question asked about the best investment idea in the current economic climate of rising inflation. The audience member asked what the best stock was to buy right now, hoping to get some advice from Buffett and Munger.
Buffett wouldn't give a specific stock and instead told the audience member to invest in themselves and be the best in whatever field they choose.
While the question was about stocks, Munger took his advice a different direction.
"When you have your own retirement account and your friendly adviser suggests you put all the money into bitcoin, just say no," Munger said at the time.
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Why It's Important: While Munger wouldn't give advice on what stocks to buy, he made sure the audience member knew where they shouldn't put their money.
Munger and Buffett have both been vocal critics of cryptocurrency, specifically Bitcoin BTC/USD.
Buffett previously called Bitcoin "rat poison" and has been targeted as an enemy of Bitcoin, with Peter Thiel previously calling him enemy number one of the apex cryptocurrency.
Buffett also warned shareholders about new forms of money that have been created, without singling out Bitcoin by name. He told shareholders Berkshire always has a lot of cash on hand.
"The United States government affects that this became exchangeable for lawful money in the United States," Buffett said in reference to a $20 bill.
Buffett said that inflation could make the $20 bill worth less in terms of purchasing power. "But that when people tell you that they're issuing new forms of money, this is the only thing that will pay bills under some circumstances," he said.
The approval of Bitcoin ETFs by the SEC has brought more institutional money into Bitcoin and perhaps changed the way that long-time investors are thinking about the leading cryptocurrency.
Buffett remains anti-crypto and Munger was until his death.
Benzinga previously noted that Berkshire Hathaway owns a stake in Nu Holdings NU. The Brazilian banking company offers several cryptocurrency platforms. It plans to invest a portion of its balance sheet into Bitcoin.
This article was previously published by Benzinga and has been updated.
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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