MW Peter Thiel calls Warren Buffett, Jamie Dimon, and Larry Fink a 'finance gerontocracy' and 'enemies of bitcoin'
By Frances Yue
Billionaire entrepreneur Peter Thiel on Thursday called billionaire investor Warren Buffett a top "enemy" of bitcoin and part of a "finance gerontocracy" that has held back the cryptocurrency's adoption.
Bitcoin could have a market capitalization that matches the $12 trillion gold market and even the $115 trillion public equity market, Thiel said at the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami on Thursday.
But a group that the outspoken venture capitalist referred to as the "finance gerontocracy" has suppressed bitcoin's adoption, said Thiel, who called Buffett a "sociopathic grandpa from Omaha." Buffett is the chairman and chief executive of Omaha-based Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRKA)(BRKA).
Thiel's list also included Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase & Co. $(JPM)$ and Larry Fink, chief executive of BlackRock Inc. $(BLK)$.
"Why bitcoin has not yet gone up to $100,000 to a million dollars? Why has it not yet converged with gold or or even with the equity markets more broadly?" Thiel said. "It's a movement as a political question, whether this movement is going to succeed, or whether the enemies of the movement are going to succeed in stopping us."
Bitcoin was trading at around $43,650, up 0.6% over the past 24 hours, according to CoinDesk data.
Critical of bitcoin, Buffett has said that the cryptocurrency has "no unique value at all"
Though skeptical about bitcoin, Dimon and Fink are both positive about the prospects for blockchain technology.
Read:JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon continues throwing shade on crypto
Read more: Russia-Ukraine war could accelerate use of digital currencies, BlackRock's Larry Fink says
A JPMorgan spokesperson declined to comment. Spokespersons for Berkshire Hathaway and BlackRock didn't respond to requests for comment.
-Frances Yue
$(END)$ Dow Jones Newswires
April 07, 2022 19:49 ET (23:49 GMT)
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