Original | Odaily Daily Report (@OdailyChina)
Author｜Golem (@web3_golem)
This week, the price of Bitcoin surpassed $110,000, reaching a new all-time high of $111,963. Now, Bitcoin’s market capitalization has reached $2.2 trillion, surpassing Amazon to become the 5th largest globally. The new high also means that—since its inception in 2008, as long as users have held onto Bitcoin, it has never caused anyone to incur a loss in terms of price. Strategy, a company that has consistently purchased and held Bitcoin, currently has unrealized profits exceeding $23 billion, and its Executive Chairman, Michael Saylor, proudly stated, “If you didn’t buy at Bitcoin’s historical peak, you missed a great opportunity.”
However, looking back at the glorious journey of Bitcoin, there have been many celebrities and scholars with biases who believe that Bitcoin is worthless, and now Bitcoin once again slaps these people in the face with its price. Odaily will compile a collection of these face-slapping remarks in this article, which can also be considered a “meal of reminiscence” for the supporters of the big pancake.
“Oracle of Omaha” Buffett: Bitcoin is “rat poison squared,” there will be no good outcome.
Warren Buffett is recognized as the “god of stocks” in the investment community, and even in the crypto world, there are investors who believe in and practice his investment philosophy, but over the years, Buffett himself has a negative attitude towards Bitcoin and has never changed.
In 2013, when Bitcoin was only over 100 dollars, Buffett stated that Bitcoin is rat poison. During the Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting held in May 2018, when a CNBC reporter again asked, “Bitcoin has risen from over 100 dollars to over 9000 dollars, what do you think about that?” Buffett responded, “It might be rat poison squared.”
At the Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting in May 2019, Buffett once again expressed a negative view of Bitcoin, stating, “It’s a gambling thing, with a lot of fraud associated with it. Bitcoin has not produced any value. It’s like shells or something; it’s not an investment for me.”
What would happen if I invest in Bitcoin?
At this year’s Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting, no one is asking Buffett about his views on Bitcoin anymore, perhaps because people believe the answer won’t differ from previous ones. At the same time, Buffett announced that he will retire at the end of the year, handing over the CEO position to Vice Chairman Greg Abel. So, will this change Berkshire Hathaway’s stance on Bitcoin?
Berkshire Hathaway’s cash and cash equivalents reserves have been growing steadily since 2018, as shown in the chart below.
Disclosed cash and cash equivalents reserves of $111.86 billion at the end of 2018 and $350 billion in Q1 2025. It can be seen that Berkshire Hathaway is not optimistic about the global economic situation in recent years and prefers to hold cash. But what happens if you invest a portion of your reserves in Bitcoin?
Bitcoin peaked at about $14,000 in 2018, and if Berkshire Hathaway had held Bitcoin with 1% (about $1.1 billion) of cash reserves at the time, the investment would now be worth more than $8.6 billion. If you continue to invest 1% of your cash and cash equivalents reserves in Bitcoin each year, the returns will be even more impressive.
“Self-flagellating” Trump: Bitcoin is a scam, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it falls below $6,000.
Who would have thought that today’s “crypto president” Trump was once a Bitcoin opponent? In 2019, during his first term as President of the United States, Trump tweeted, “I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, they are not currencies, their value is highly volatile, and they come out of thin air. Unregulated crypto assets can facilitate illegal activities, including drug trade and other illegal activities.”
On June 7, 2021, former President Trump stated during an interview with Stuart Varney on Fox Business, “Bitcoin is a scam, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it drops below $6,000.” He expressed his dislike for Bitcoin because it competes with the dollar. Trump also stated that the world’s currency should be the dollar, and we should not have Bitcoin.
! [Who’s Who of Bitcoin Slap in the Face: Those who questioned Bitcoin, are now silent?] ](https://img.gateio.im/social/moments-67b7ef32c1573063c92c34ac2a541640)
Errors can be corrected, and there is no greater virtue than doing good.
Trump’s stance on bitcoin can be divided into three phases: vigorous criticism (2019), continued questioning after leaving office (2021), and active support after taking office (2025). Although it is well known that politicians are foxes of the millennium, positions will change along with interests, there are no eternal friends and foes, only eternal interests.
During the presidential election in 2024, crypto enthusiasts have become an undeniable political force in the United States. Trump changed his stance on crypto to gain votes, attended crypto conferences, and frequently flattered Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in public. After successfully becoming president, Trump’s interest group understood that the crypto industry has enormous profit potential, making money faster than their ancestral real estate business. Therefore, their group successively established the crypto project World Liberty Financial, issued the meme coin TRUMP, and the stablecoin USD1, turning the crypto industry into a family ATM.
But it is also undeniable that Trump’s attitude shift towards Bitcoin and the crypto industry is indeed one of the engines driving this bull market. “Having made such a big contribution, what’s wrong with making some money?”
Bill Gates: Don’t expect Bitcoin to go up, I’m willing to short it
Bill Gates, a prominent figure in Web2, has always held a negative view of Bitcoin. In a 2018 interview with CNBC, he stated, “As an asset class, it doesn’t create anything, so you shouldn’t expect it to rise. This is purely an investment based on the ‘greater fool theory’, and if there were an easy way to do it, I would agree to short it.”
However, in 2021, Bill Gates changed his stance on Bitcoin and adopted a neutral attitude towards it.
! [Who’s Who of Bitcoin Slap in the Face: Those who questioned Bitcoin, are now silent?] ](https://img.gateio.im/social/moments-36b9cb5a51d5a9d7dd0351965609963f)However, on the occasion of the NFT fire in June 2022, Bill Gates once again said in a live conversation at TechCrunch that "NFT 100% Based on the theory of bigger fools. "It poured cold water on the encryption center of gravity at that time.
Bill Gates’ most recent comment on Bitcoin was in May 2024, where he stated, “The value of a company comes from the great products they create, while the value of cryptocurrency is simply what others decide they are willing to pay for it, so it does not add value to society like other investments.” It is evident that his hostility towards cryptocurrency has not changed much.
JPMorgan CEO: Bitcoin is worthless, people have the right to smoke, but that doesn’t mean it’s beneficial.
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has been a long-time “opponent” of Bitcoin. As early as 2014, Dimon expressed his stance on Bitcoin, stating that “Bitcoin is a terrible store of value, and this cryptocurrency can be copied repeatedly; below is a summary of Jamie Dimon’s negative comments on Bitcoin over the years:”
- 2014: “A terrible way to store value”
- 2015: “Will not survive” “Will be stopped”
- 2016: “No way out”
- 2017: “Fraud”
- 2018: “Not caring at all”
- 2019: Launched JPMCoin
- 2020: “Not my cup of tea”
- Year 2021: Worthless
Even today, Jamie Dimon still holds a negative attitude towards Bitcoin. On January 13, 2015, he criticized Bitcoin again, stating that it has no intrinsic value and is often abused by wrongdoers. He also compared trading Bitcoin to the act of smoking, saying that while people may have the right to smoke, it does not mean that smoking is a good idea.
was forced to sell “cigarettes”
However, although Jamie Dimon himself has never missed a chance to criticize Bitcoin, JPMorgan still displayed a “true fragrance” behavior. On May 19, 2025, Jamie Dimon stated that while he is not a “fan” of Bitcoin, he will allow clients to purchase Bitcoin, but will not provide custody services for it.
In fact, back in 2021, Jamie Dimon expressed a similar view: investors are advised to stay away from Bitcoin, but if Bitcoin is more regulated, JPMorgan Chase can provide customers with Bitcoin-related services. He cites marijuana as an example, saying it can be traced back to how a person should run a business. "I don’t smoke marijuana, but if you make it legal across the U.S., I’m not going to stop our people from putting it up and stuff like that. I’m not going to tell people how to spend their money, regardless of what I personally think about people might buy some items with their own money. ”
There is no doubt that Jamie Dimon is not a smart investor, but he is a competent businessman.
BlackRock CEO: Bitcoin is a money laundering indicator
Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, first expressed his views on Bitcoin in October 2017, stating that “cryptocurrencies prove how much money laundering is happening around the world.” At the same time, in a 2021 interview with CNBC, he mentioned, “I might be more inclined to Jamie Dimon’s camp, as he believes Bitcoin has no value.”
How much is human freedom worth?
However, the CEO of BlackRock changed his view on Bitcoin in 2023, stating in July on Fox Business that Bitcoin is like digital gold. In March 2024, when a CNBC reporter asked, “How much do you think Bitcoin is worth?”, Larry Fink replied, “How much is human freedom worth?” Larry Fink, a veteran of old money, has directly elevated the value of Bitcoin to an priceless level.
Larry Fink also stated, “I used to be a skeptic, and I take pride in that. But after my research, I found that my views from five years ago were wrong. I believe Bitcoin is legitimate, and it can bring returns that are uncorrelated with traditional assets.”
In March 2025, Larry Fink stated that the price of Bitcoin is expected to rise to between $500,000 and $700,000.
Jack Ma: Blockchain is not a bubble, but Bitcoin is
Jack Ma, a well-known Chinese entrepreneur, is also not very positive about Bitcoin. In November 2017, Jack Ma said at an event: I don’t have much interest in Bitcoin, we have a team that studies blockchain, but Bitcoin is not what I want to do, we don’t pay attention to Bitcoin.
At the second World Intelligence Conference held in Tianjin in May 2018, Jack Ma stated, “Blockchain is not a bubble, but Bitcoin is a bubble—Bitcoin is just a small part of blockchain.” He reiterated this view again in August 2021.
It is evident that Jack Ma has a certain confidence in the application layer of blockchain technology, but he maintains a cautious and negative attitude towards specific cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.
Lang Xianping: If you give me Bitcoin, I won’t want it.
Independent economist commentator, former host of “Caijing Langyan” Lang Xianping stated in the 2014 Guangdong Television “Caijing Langyan” program, “If you give me Bitcoin, I won’t want it. To me, this thing has no meaning and no value.” Thus, a classic meme appeared.
Four years later, in January 2018, in the media’s special report on Lang Xianping, he once again strengthened his position, regarded Bitcoin as a “phantom” and a “speculative bubble”, and cited Warren Buffett’s view of “staying away from Bitcoin” to warn of risks.
Summary: Bitcoin is the religion of the new era
Bitcoin began with a string of code in 2008, and after years of ups and downs, it once again declared its immortality to the world with a new price high this week. Those steadfast opponents, who sailed with doubt, can only lower their sails in the face of the rising trend. Every new high of Bitcoin is a gentle mockery of the “bubble theory” and the “zeroing theory”—price is truth, and digital is forged into faith.
Perhaps Bitcoin is the religion of the new era. It has no churches, but it lights the hearts of believers among global nodes; it has no scriptures, but it writes an immutable canon with blockchain. For staunch Bitcoin opponents, even if the price is high and the consensus strong, it may not change the grudges in their hearts, but “a generation will always grow old, yet there will always be those who are young.” The ranks of Bitcoin believers will only continue to grow in the future.
