Buffett buys Bitcoin

On January 23, according to a new report from Fortune magazine, Warren Buffett has never concealed his dislike for cryptocurrencies. However, Berkshire Hathaway has invested millions of dollars in Nu Holdings Ltd., a Brazilian bank related to cryptocurrency, and the bank's stock price has risen 34% year-on-year.

Berkshire Hathaway CEO and Chairman Warren Buffett has made his stance on cryptocurrencies clear on several occasions: he is not a fan of them.

At Berkshire Hathaway’s 2018 annual shareholder meeting, Buffett called Bitcoin “probably rat poison squared.”

In 2018, Buffett told CNBC: "As far as cryptocurrencies are concerned, I can say with almost certainty that they will not end well. We don't own any cryptocurrencies, we are not short any cryptocurrencies, and we will never have a position in any cryptocurrency."

But recent reports suggest that Berkshire Hathaway and some of its investment managers may be becoming more lenient toward cryptocurrencies.

Berkshire Hathaway has invested in Brazilian digital banking company Nu Holdings, which has its own cryptocurrency platform and supports the cryptocurrency market. According to Nu, Buffett's company initially invested $500 million in the 2021 Series G round and subsequently invested another $250 million.

In 2022, Nu launched its cryptocurrency platform Nubank Cripto, initially supporting Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Polygon. The platform now includes Uniswap and Chainlink, and allows users to send, receive, and convert cryptocurrencies.

Nu Holdings did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.

Berkshire Hathaway increased its stake in Nu from 0.1% in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, 2022 to 0.4% in the third quarter of fiscal 2024, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Representatives for Berkshire Hathaway and Buffett did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment. This means that as of the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2025, Berkshire Hathaway held more than 86 million shares of Nu, worth nearly $1.2 billion. This means that Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway are benefiting from a business that he has claimed in the past to know little about.

“I’ve gotten into enough trouble with things I thought I understood,” Buffett told CNBC in 2018. “Why would I want to be long or short on something I know nothing about?”

As of midday Wednesday, Nu Holdings' stock price was up nearly 34% year-over-year.Now that Berkshire Hathaway appears to be making cryptocurrency-related investments, Buffett may need to reconsider his previous comments that cryptocurrency will not change the status quo.

"If you told me you had all the Bitcoin in the world and sold it to me for $25, I wouldn't take it because what would I do with it?" Buffett said at the 2022 Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting. "I'd have to sell it back to you one way or another. It wouldn't do anything."

However, it is worth noting that Berkshire Hathaway's overall investment strategy tends to be more conservative. According to the company's quarterly financial statements, Berkshire Hathaway holds more than $325 billion in cash and equivalents as of the end of 2024, but most of it is in U.S. Treasuries. This means that Berkshire Hathaway is staying away from large investments in hot stocks, even when the market is on a winning streak.

In November 2024, Meyer Shields, managing director of boutique investment bank Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, told Fortune magazine: "Berkshire has been successful by being steady in this way for decades."