Berkshire Hathaway Inc. BRKABRKB CEO Warren Buffett, who was known as the brexit enemy number one earlier this year by Peter Thiel, now owns a stake inBitcoin thanks to one of his investments.
What happened in June 2021 when Berkshire Hathaway invested $500 million in Brazilian digital bank Nubank. When the company went public as Nu Holdings NU in December 2021, Buffett s Berkshire Hathaway added to its position in the digital bank.
Many have pointed out Nubank as a friendly bank that could give Buffett exposure to the trading of cryptocurrencies for months. The bank s parent company is allocating 1% of its cash toBTCUSD and ETHUSD, while Nubank is launching cryptocurrencies trading of BTC USD and ETHUSD for millions of users.
The trading platform is expected to be available to all users by the end of July. There are a number of additional cryptocurrencies that are expected to be added to the platform in the future.
Nubank has provided several ETFs for its customers that previously gave them exposure to cryptocurrencies.
There is no doubt that cryptocurrencies are a growing trend in Latin America, one that we have been following closely and believe will have a transformative impact on the region, said David Velez, CEO of Nubank.
Why is it important that Berkshire Hathaway owns a stake in Nu Holdings that is worth over $1 billion.
Buffett and Berkshire Vice Chairman Charlie Munger have been outspoken critics ofcryptocurrencies, includingBitcoin.
Buffett called the poison of Bitcoins. Buffett told Berkshire shareholders that he wouldn't buy Bitcoins even if it dropped to $25.
Munger spoke aboutBitcoin at the annual shareholder conference.
When you have your retirement account and your friendly advisor suggests you put all the money into a digital currency, just say no, Munger said.
Berkshire Hathaway could have indirect exposure toBitcoin and cryptocurrencies as more companies start to adopt cryptocurrencies through its wide range of investments. Berkshire Hathaway is a large shareholder in Visa Inc V, which gives Buffett partial ownership of a CryptoPunk NFT.
Price Action: Berkshire Hathaway shares are up 3% year-to-date, one of the few positive large cap stocks for 2022.
The price of the digital currency is $29,410. It has lost 18% of its value over the last seven days, and has lost 18% of its value at the time of writing.
Photo : Created with an image from Aaron Friedman on Flickr.