The $25 Question That Defined Buffett's Crypto Stance Before His Berkshire Exit

For decades, Warren Buffett has been the face of crypto skepticism in mainstream finance. His blunt assessments of Bitcoin became legendary—first dismissing it as “rat poison” back in 2014, then escalating to “rat poison squared” during a 2018 CNBC interview when Bitcoin hovered around $9,000. But his most brutal critique came at Berkshire Hathaway’s 2022 shareholder meeting, where the 94-year-old investor told a crowd of tens of thousands that he wouldn’t accept all the Bitcoin in existence for just $25.

“If you owned all the Bitcoin in the world and offered it to me for $25, I wouldn’t take it,” Buffett stated bluntly. His reasoning was straightforward: unlike productive assets such as farmland or apartment buildings that generate actual income, Bitcoin produces nothing. “What would I do with it? I’d have to sell it back to you one way or another. It isn’t going to do anything,” he explained, holding up a $20 bill to illustrate his point about real currency backed by actual utility.

This philosophy wasn’t unique to Buffett. His late business partner Charlie Munger mirrored his disdain, calling cryptocurrency “disgusting and contrary to the interests of civilization” in 2021. By 2022, Munger had grown even more colorful in his language, describing digital assets as a “turd” and comparing their promotion to spreading disease. The partnership’s collective refusal to invest in crypto became almost as famous as their stock picks.

Now, as Buffett steps back from the CEO role at Berkshire Hathaway this week after six decades of leadership, the timing feels symbolic. The 94-year-old is handing operational control to Greg Abel while retaining the chairman position—a milestone for the $1 trillion conglomerate built on entirely different principles than the speculation that defines crypto markets.

Buffett’s journey from picking up Berkshire shares at $7.60 per share in 1962 to building a fortune exceeding $150 billion (even after donating $60 billion to charity) was rooted in tangible value, patient capital, and skepticism toward assets that can’t be audited or valued. His Class A shares now trade above $750,000, reflecting six decades of discipline and conviction. The generational shift at Berkshire raises questions about whether this orthodox investment philosophy will survive its most famous architect’s step backward from daily operations.

Whether Bitcoin reaches new highs without Buffett’s critique or crashes under its own weight, his $25 question will endure as the ultimate expression of dismissal—not angry, not preachy, but economically logical from his perspective: if an asset produces nothing and exists solely for speculation, what is it truly worth?