Warren Buffett, CEO and Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, has made it clear many times that he has no interest in cryptocurrencies. However, the rapid appreciation of Bitcoin and other tokens in the past two years may have broken this stereotype of the legendary investor. According to documents, Berkshire Hathaway has already invested in Nu Holdings, a Brazilian digital bank linked to cryptocurrency, and made a fortune.
At the 2018 Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholder meeting, Buffett called Bitcoin “possibly an upgraded version of rat poison.”
Buffett told CNBC in 2018: “Generally when it comes to cryptocurrencies, I would almost certainly say they are not going to end well. We don’t hold any cryptocurrencies, we don’t have any through short selling, and will not take a position in this area.”
However, recent reports suggest that Berkshire Hathaway and some of its investment managers may become less cryptophobic.
Berkshire Hathaway invested in Nu Holdings, a Brazilian digital banking company that has a proprietary cryptocurrency platform and supports the cryptocurrency market. Nu Holding said Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway initially invested $500 million in Series G financing in 2021 and subsequently injected an additional $250 million.
According to filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Berkshire Hathaway has increased its stake in Nu Holding from 0.1% in the fourth quarter ending December 31st, 2022, to 0.4% in the third quarter of fiscal year 2024. Representatives from Berkshire Hathaway and Buffett did not directly respond to Fortune magazine's request for comment.
This means that as of the third quarter of fiscal 2024, Berkshire Hathaway held more than 86 million shares of Nu Holding, worth nearly $1.2 billion. Therefore, this also means that Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway are benefiting from the cryptocurrency business.
Shares of Nu Holdings were up nearly 34% through midday Wednesday. This means that Berkshire has made a lot of money from this company that the legendary investor claims to not understand.
Now that Berkshire Hathaway appears to be making cryptocurrency-related investments, Buffett may need to revise his previous statement that "cryptocurrencies will have little impact."
As of the end of 2024, Berkshire Hathaway held more than $325 billion in cash and equivalents, but most of it was U.S. Treasury bonds, which means that the legendary investor will not invest heavily in popular stocks even when the U.S. stock market has a winning streak.
Meyer Shields, managing director at boutique investment bank Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW), said Berkshire has succeeded in this boring way for decades.
