Bitcoin is Total Insanity & Here's Why... - Charlie Munger | M.Ross 2017【C:C.M Ep.227】

 

[Transcript]

SCOTT DERUE: So, Charlie, I'm going to turn to a few questions from the audience as we start to wrap up. Probably half my questions here are about Bitcoin and cryptocurrency.

 

CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, I could answer those very quickly. (Laughter)

I think it's perfectly asinine to even pause to think about them. (Laughter & Applause)

You know, it's one thing to think that gold has some marvelous store of value because man has no way of inventing more gold or getting it very easily, so it has the advantage of rarity.

Believe me, man is capable of somehow creating more Bitcoin. They tell you they're not going to do it, but they mean they're not going to do it unless they want to. That's what they mean when they say they're not going to do it. And they say there are rules, and they can't do it – don't believe them. When there's enough incentive, bad things will happen.

It's bad people, crazy bubble, bad idea luring people into the concept of easy wealth without much insight or work. That's the last thing on Earth you should think about, because if it worked, it would be bad for you cause you'd try to do it again. It's totally insane.

And by the way, I've just laid out a wonderful life lesson for you. Give a whole lot of things a wide berth – they don't exist – you know crooks, crazies, egomaniacs, people full of resentment, people full of self-pity, people who feel like victims – there's a whole lot of things that aren't going to work for you. Figure out what they are, and avoid them like the plague. And one of them is Bitcoin. (Laughter)

And the worst thing would happen if you won because then you do it again! It's total insanity, and it's so easy to simplify life from just all these things there beneath you. I don't even want to know people who are promoting Bitcoin. I don't want to know my address. (Laughter)

 

SCOTT DERUE: So Charlie –

 

CHARLIE MUNGER: They are not my kind of people.

 

SCOTT DERUE: Charlie, what I hear you saying is you're not going to be investing in Bitcoin is that – that's fair.

 

CHARLIE MUNGER: I think that's fair.

(Source: https://youtu.be/S9HgIGzOENA)

 

[YAPSS Takeaway]

"Believe me, man is capable of somehow creating more Bitcoin. They tell you they're not going to do it, but they mean they're not going to do it unless they want to. That's what they mean when they say they're not going to do it. And they say there are rules, and they can't do it – don't believe them. When there's enough incentive, bad things will happen." ~Charlie Munger