Charlie Munger says the US should ban crypto

Charlie Munger, Deputy Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway. Houston Cofield/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Charlie Munger really doesn’t like crypto. In fact, he’s been talking about it publicly for a while. He says he wishes it had never been invented. He says Bitcoin is “stupid and evil” and useful for “kidnappers and extortionists”. He compares crypto to “rat poison” and a “venereal disease”. And he has said that it is “almost insane to buy these things or trade them.”

So it’s not necessarily a surprise that Munger, who has a net worth of $2.3 billion and is known for being the right-hand man of Oracle of Omaha Warren Buffett, has decided to maintain his status as a top crypto-skeptic. But he has a few more thoughts to share as well.

“I’m not proud of my country for allowing this crap – well, I call it cryptos***. It’s worthless, it’s no good, it’s crazy, it will do nothing but harm, it’s anti-social to allow it,” Munger said during a live interview with CNBC at a Daily Journal event. He went on to say he was ashamed that so many people “believe this kind of crap and the government allows it to exist.”

In the past, Munger has gone so far as to say that the US should take a side from China when it comes to regulation – the country banned cryptocurrency in 2021.

“What should the US do after a cryptocurrency ban is in place?” he wrote in a recent The Wall Street Journal op-ed. Munger went on to say, “Well, one more action might make sense: Thank the Chinese Communist leader for his wonderful example of uncommon sense.”

When asked about the recent comment, Munger told CNBC, “I think the people who oppose my position are idiots.”

“I don’t think that’s a rational argument against my position,” he added.

Aside from Munger’s longstanding dislike of crypto, the industry itself has had a terrible year. Back-to-back collapses, including the TerraUSD stablecoin, and the FTX exchange, have sent the industry reeling, at one point shedding $2 trillion in value. One of crypto’s most prominent founders, FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried, is currently awaiting trial on fraud charges.

Regulators are also becoming more aggressive in cracking down on crypto firms in the wake of these debacles. This week, the New York Department of Financial Services stopped crypto firm Paxos from issuing a coin for Binance.

And at a congressional hearing Tuesday, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) said the fallout from crypto failures was still ongoing.

“The nightmare is not over yet,” he said. “Recent crypto meltdowns have made it clear that we need a comprehensive framework to regulate crypto products to protect consumers and our financial system.”