Billionaire Peter Thiel blasts Warren Buffett as 'sociopathic grandpa' and Bitcoin's 'enemy No. 1'
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Mr Peter Thiel said fellow billionaire Warren Buffet was part of a group opposed to a "revolutionary youth movement" that embraces Bitcoin.
PHOTO: AFP
NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) - Billionaire entrepreneur Peter Thiel has called investment guru Warren Buffett and chief executives Jamie Dimon and Larry Fink members of a "finance gerontocracy" opposed to a "revolutionary youth movement" that embraces Bitcoin.
In his keynote speech at the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami on Thursday (April 7), Mr Thiel, 54, blamed the finance titans for the digital currency's failure to reach US$100,000 (S$136,000), a benchmark popular among the asset's die-hard supporters.
"What is it going to take for this to happen?" he asked, before pinning blame on Mr Buffett.
He called the 91-year-old fellow billionaire "enemy No. 1" and "the sociopathic grandpa from Omaha", amid the booing Miami crowd.
He also took aim at Mr Dimon, the 66-year-old CEO of JPMorgan Chase, and Mr Fink, 69, who runs BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager. All three have said they are sceptical of Bitcoin or digital currencies in general.
Mr Thiel had by 2018 reportedly amassed hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Bitcoin through venture firm Founders Fund, CNBC reported.
A spokesman for BlackRock said the company declined to comment on Mr Thiel's remarks. But he pointed to Mr Fink's letter to shareholders last month in which the CEO said a thoughtfully designed digital payment system "can enhance the settlement of international transactions while reducing the risk of money laundering and corruption".
Digital currencies can also help bring down costs of cross-border payments, Mr Fink wrote.
JPMorgan declined to comment and a representative of Mr Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway did not respond to a request for comment.
Mr Thiel accused the trio of using investing practices focused on environmental, social and governance goals as a "hate factory" to undermine Bitcoin and other businesses.
Mr Thiel also attacked central bankers, including Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell.
"Mr Powell - people like that - should be extremely grateful to Bitcoin because it is the last warning they are going to get," Mr Thiel said. "They've chosen to ignore it, and they will have to pay the consequences for that in the years ahead."
