The world’s most popular cryptocurrency has been on a tear lately. On March 5, the price of Bitcoin briefly surpassed $68,800 and USD 69,000 per coin – the highest it’s ever been.
Since its launch in 2008, Bitcoin has been a source of controversy, due to its high price volatility, lack of regulatory oversight, and difficulty in tracking transactions. Over the past 16 years, it has attracted a large following of enthusiasts, but it has also drawn its share of critics and skeptics. Billionaires around the world also have varying opinions on Bitcoin.
Elon Musk
American billionaire Elon Musk in Rome, Italy, in December 2023. Photo: AFP |
Elon Musk is known for his tweets and public statements that can move the cryptocurrency market. However, his views on Bitcoin have been somewhat mixed. In early 2021, the billionaire said that “Bitcoin is a good thing” and that he was “late to the party” on the cryptocurrency during a conversation on the audio social media app Clubhouse.
His electric car company, Tesla, also purchased billions of USD worth of Bitcoin and briefly allowed customers to pay for their cars with it. However, they later reversed that decision, citing environmental concerns about the energy required to mine Bitcoin.
Later in 2021, Musk also criticized Bitcoin, saying that it was mostly a tool for the rich to have more power. He also warned that cryptocurrencies are not a serious long-term investment.
Last year, Tesla sold all of the Bitcoin it owned. Musk also said he has lost interest in cryptocurrencies and moved on to AI.
Warren Buffett
The legendary investor has been quite vocal in his criticism of Bitcoin. He has called the cryptocurrency “rat poison” and a “gambling device”.
At Berkshire Hathaway’s 2019 annual meeting, the billionaire said: “It doesn’t produce anything. It’s got a magic to it and people have decided that it’s worth something. But that doesn’t make it worth anything. It’s kind of like a seashell or something, but that doesn’t make it worth anything to me.”
At the company’s 2022 annual meeting, Buffett revisited Bitcoin. “Whether it goes up or down in the next five or 10 years, I don’t know. But the one thing I’m pretty sure of is that it doesn’t produce anything,” he said. Buffett believes that for an asset to be valuable, it “needs to deliver something to somebody.”
Bill Gates
 Billionaire Bill Gates in London, England, on February 15. Photo: Reuters |
Like his long-time friend Warren Buffett, the Microsoft co-founder has been skeptical of Bitcoin. He has expressed concerns about the cryptocurrency’s volatility, particularly its susceptibility to the whims of social media personalities like Elon Musk.
In a 2021 interview with Bloomberg, Gates warned about investing in Bitcoin, saying: “Elon has a lot of money and he’s very sophisticated. If you don’t have as much money as Elon, you should probably watch out.”
On Reddit in 2022, when asked about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general, he said that they don’t add value to society the way other investments do. Gates also said that he does not own any cryptocurrency.
Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss
The Winklevoss brothers are the world’s first Bitcoin billionaires. They first came to prominence in 2006, when they sued Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg for allegedly stealing their social networking idea. They settled with Facebook for $65 million USD in 2009.
The brothers invested $11 million USD in Bitcoin in 2013. The cryptocurrency they bought at the time represented 1% of all Bitcoins in circulation.
Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss have called Bitcoin the “trade of the century.” They have argued that Bitcoin is “better than gold” and that it is the missing piece of the digital economy.
“I remember when people used to say Facebook was a joke,” Tyler told the Financial Times in 2016, “We feel like we’re in a very similar movie, with different actors.”
Mark Cuban
Mark Cuban at an event in Las Vegas in January 2024. Photo: Reuters |
Billionaire investor Mark Cuban is not a believer in Bitcoin. He has said that supporters of the cryptocurrency act like “religious zealots” and that Bitcoin “has no chance” of becoming a reliable currency.
In a 2020 op-ed for Forbes, Cuban wrote: “The idea of Bitcoin as a store of value like gold is more a religion than a solution. Bitcoin will never be a safe haven during times of stress.” The billionaire even went so far as to say that if he had to choose between Bitcoin and a banana, he would rather eat the banana.
Carl Icahn
In 2018, billionaire investor Carl Icahn dismissed Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as a “joke” on CNBC. “I don’t like it because I don’t understand it,” he said. Icahn expressed concerns about how the cryptocurrency is regulated, and said that he was too old to get involved in it.
However, by 2021, the billionaire appeared to have changed his tune. In an interview with Bloomberg, Icahn said that he was looking into Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies for investment opportunities. The 88-year-old also said that critics who say cryptocurrencies have no fundamental value are “missing the boat.”
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