Warren Buffett Makes $250 Million from Crypto-Involved Nubank: He Once Said 'Cryptocurrencies Basically Have No Value'
Warren Buffett, a long-time critic of cryptocurrency who once said it's "rat poison squared," has profited substantially from his investment in Nubank, a financial institution with multiple crypto-related services.
Nubank is a leading fintech platform in South America, serving more than 85 customers throughout Brazil, Colombia and Mexico, as well as crypto-related services to more than 1.35 million customers. These services include a digital financial platform for trading Bitcoin and Ethereum, a trading platform with a Bitcoin ETF product and a Nubank loyalty token running on the Polygon blockchain.
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In 2021, Buffett’s company, Berkshire Hathaway, purchased 107 million shares of Nu Holdings, the parent company of Nubank, for a total investment of $750 million. Since then, it has not sold a single share. Nu’s share price surged by 106% since the investment, reaching a peak value of over a billion dollars in February 2022. This increase in share price enabled Buffett to make an approximate $250 million in paper profits.
While the Nubank $750 million investment is a substantial sum, it is approximately 0.1015% of Berkshire Hathaway's current market capitalization of $767,598,000,000 as of Nov. 2, 2023.
As one of the richest people in the world, Buffett is a frequent interview subject regarding his opinions on the economy, new innovations and broader world events. He's often asked about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies as he is a vocal critic who questions its value and future as a global currency.
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At the annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting in 2022, Buffett responded to a query about his current views on Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. He said if the people attending the meeting held "all the farmland in the United States" or "all the apartments in the country" and they offered him one percent of that total for $25 billion, he would write a check immediately. But, he would not offer to buy a percentage of the total Bitcoin, saying "If you ... owned all of the Bitcoin in the world and you offered it to me for $25, I wouldn't take it," Buffett said. "Because what would I do with it? I'll have to sell it back to you one way or another. It isn't going to do anything."
In a May 2, 2022, interview with CNBC's Squawk Box, he said "Cryptocurrencies basically have no value and they don’t produce anything." Back in 2018, he told CNBC, “I don’t own any cryptocurrency and I never will.” In another Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting, Buffett said, “It’s rat poison squared.”
Despite being a vocal critic of cryptocurrencies in the past, Warren Buffett’s investment in Nu Holdings is so far a profitable venture. The bank's success reflects the evolving landscape of traditional finance and the growing influence of fintech firms and cryptocurrencies.
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This article Warren Buffett Makes $250 Million from Crypto-Involved Nubank: He Once Said 'Cryptocurrencies Basically Have No Value' originally appeared on Benzinga.com
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