Berkshire Hathaway’s Charlie Munger has doubled down on his criticism of ‘disgusting’ bitcoin

Berkshire Hathaway’s Charlie Munger has doubled down on his criticism of ‘disgusting’ bitcoin

Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett and his right-hand man, Charlie Munger, are no fans of cryptocurrency, but on Saturday Munger doubled down on his critique of bitcoin.

"Of course I hate the bitcoin success," Munger said in response to a question during Berkshire's annual shareholders' event."I don't welcome a currency that's so useful to kidnappers and extortionists, nor do I like just shoveling out a few extra billions and billions of dollars to somebody who just invented a new financial product out of thin air."

"I think I should say modestly that I think the whole damned development is disgusting and contrary to the interests of civilization," he added. 

Buffett, who has previously called cryptocurrencies, "worthless," and "risky"  was more evasive.

"We've probably got hundreds of thousands of people watching this that own bitcoin, and we've got two people short," Buffett said. "Angering the former group to make a couple of people happy wouldn't be worth it," he said.

The pointed remarks come during a headline-grabbing year for cryptocurrencies. 

Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency, broke consecutive records above the $63,000-level before tumbling below $50,000 last month. It has regained some of its value as it struggles to define its utility from being a potential currency to a store of