Warren Buffett, chief executive of investment conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway and one of the world's most respected investors, told CNBC television Monday that Bitcoin "does not meet the test of a currency."
"I wouldn't be surprised if it's not around in 10 or 20 years," said the 83-year-old billionaire, whose nickname stems from his investment savvy and his home city of Omaha, in the US state of Nebraska.
Buffett called the virtual currency, which has no central bank backing and is generated by an automated computer program, "very speculative, a Buck Rogers kind of thing" like the Dutch tulip mania in 1637.
His criticism came on the heels of the collapse of what was once the leading exchange for Bitcoin, Mt Gox, in Japan. Mt Gox said it is investigating the disappearance and apparent theft of nearly $500 million worth of Bitcoin.
The global Bitcoin community was shaken this week by the shuttering of Mt. Gox, which had frozen withdrawals earlier this month because of what the firm said was a bug in the software underpinning Bitcoin that allowed hackers to pilfer them.
Supporters rallied round, insisting that the Bitcoin itself is sound and the problems lay with Mt. Gox, which they said was badly-managed and unable to cope with the burgeoning popularity of the young currency.
Kolin Burges, an investor who has kept vigil outside the Tokyo offices of Mt. Gox for several weeks, said on Twitter that he would be packing up.
"Karpeles in Tokyo says MtGox is bankrupt. 750,000 customer Bitcoins stolen & 120,000 company Bitcoins stolen. None left #mtgox#mtgoxprotest' he tweeted.
He later added: "Packed up #mtgoxprotest for the last time and did leaving interview with Asahi TV. It's been a wild ride!"
The admission that such a huge amount of the crypto-currency has disappeared could add to calls for regulation of an industry that has taken regulators and bankers by surprise.Catch the latest from the Consumer Electronics Show on Gadgets 360, at our CES 2026 hub.