Warren Buffett’s right-hand man and Berkshire Hathaway vice president Charlie Munger has urged the US government to ban cryptocurrencies like China has. “A cryptocurrency is not a currency, nor a commodity, nor a value. Instead, it is a gaming contract with almost 100% house edge,” he emphasized.
Berkshire Vice President Charlie Munger Wants Crypto to Be Banned
Berkshire Hathaway Vice President Charlie Munger urged the US government to ban cryptocurrencies in an op-ed titled “Why America Should Ban Cryptocurrency,” published by the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. The Berkshire executive wrote:
A cryptocurrency is not a currency, nor a commodity, nor a value. Instead, it is a betting contract with a nearly 100% house edge, entered into in a country where betting contracts are traditionally regulated only by laxly competing states.
“Obviously, the United States should now enact a new federal law that prevents this from happening,” Munger stressed.
The Berkshire vice president went on to reference two precedents that may provide insight into how to effectively ban cryptocurrencies. The first is China’s crypto ban, he said, adding that the Chinese government “wisely concluded that (cryptocurrencies) would do more harm than good.”
The second is that beginning in the 1700s, England faced a severe depression after a speculative trading scheme failed. In response, the country has banned public trading in new common shares for 100 years, Munger explained. During that time, “England made by far the greatest national contribution to the march of civilization, for it powerfully led both the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution and spawned a promising little country called the United States to begin with,” he opined. he.
Munger concluded:
What should the US do after the cryptocurrency ban? Well, one more action might make sense: thank the Chinese communist leader for his splendid example of common sense.
The Berkshire executive has long been a bitcoin and crypto skeptic; he he has called BTC “rat poison” and compared trading cryptocurrency to “trading excrement.”
He said in 2021 that he wished cryptocurrencies had never been invented and praised China for banning cryptocurrencies. He also called bitcoin “disgusting and contrary to the interest of civilization.”
In February of last year, he similarly said that the government should ban bitcoin, calling cryptocurrencies a “venereal disease.” In July, he advised everyone to avoid crypto as an “open sewer, full of malicious organisms.”
What do you think of Charlie Munger’s statements? Let us know in the comments section.
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