Bitcoin is ‘rat poison,’ Berkshire’s Charlie Munger says

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Charlie Munger are doubling down on slamming bitcoin by comparing the cryptocurrency to “rat poison” and “turds.”

Munger told FOX Business’ Liz Claman on Monday that bitcoin was “rat poison” five years ago when the digital currency was trading just above $100 and now refers to it as “more expensive rat poison.”

“I like it when my country steps hard on idiot booms instead of fanning the flame,” Munger said during an interview on “Countdown to the Closing Bell.” "If there’s ever anything that needed stepping down on hard, it’s bitcoin."

Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, described digital currency as a nonproductive asset while stocks earn money for investors in the markets.

“No money has been made from bitcoin where somebody pays somebody else to own the same thing” he said. “Bitcoin has produced nothing.”

Munger said investors who are bullish on cryptocurrency are fueling economic consequences that harm the U.S.

“To me, it’s just dementia,”Munger said Saturday during Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders meeting in Omaha, Nebraska. “It’s like somebody else is trading turds, and you decide you can’t be left out.”

A cryptocurrency conference, Bitcoin Day in Omaha, was coincidently scheduled during the same weekend as the Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholder meeting, but organizers had to cancel after the event’s location host cited “conflict” with events on the same day.

Munger reacted to the cancellation by saying Monday, “Well, they were probably crowded out by a couple of people who wanted to have a conference on sewage.”