(Kitco News) – Financial markets were sent into a tizzy on Monday after a flash crash of Berkshire Hathaway's stock (BRK.A), which was caused by a technical glitch on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), sent the stock’s price falling nearly 100%, prompting the NYSE to halt trading in several high-profile stocks to correct the issue.
While the error was quickly fixed, and the NYSE announced it would cancel any erroneous trades that resulted from the incident, many in the crypto community were quick to point out a delicious bit of irony that the incident highlighted – BRK.A has actually seen its value fall more than 99% since 2015 when compared to Bitcoin (BTC).
So he was right, BTC was rat poison for his stock.
— Willy Woo (@woonomic) June 4, 2024
Data provided by TradingView shows that since Feb. 23, 2015, the amount of Bitcoin that could be bought with one share of BRK.A has declined from 1,445 to 8.72, a decrease of 99.4%.
BRK.A/BTCUSD 1-week chart. Source: TradingView
The difference is even more stark when compared to the price of Bitcoin in October 2011, when one share of BRK.A was worth 51,880 BTC.
Berkshire Hathaway owner Warren Buffett is a well-known critic of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, famously describing the top crypto as “rat poison squared” in 2018 and warning that the crypto market will ultimately come to a “bad ending.”
At the time of the comments, Bitcoin traded at a price of around $9,800, which means that BTC has increased nearly 620% while BRK.A gained 108.7% over the same period.
While a 108% increase over six years is a respectable gain for most stocks, Bitcoin has clearly been the better-performing asset during that time despite objections from the likes of Buffet, Charlie Munger, and anti-crypto critics like Peter Schiff.
According to the Nakamoto Portfolio simulator, if Buffet allocated just 1% of the BRK.A portfolio to Bitcoin in April 2017, its performance would have increased from 293% to 342%.
A five percent allocation to BTC would have resulted in a gain of 537%, and a ten percent allocation would have netted an increase of 781%.
Not only has Bitcoin far exceeded the expectations of critics like Buffet, but it has also succeeded in pushing Berkshire Hathaway out of the top ten assets by market capitalization, with silver next on the list of assets to overcome on Bitcoin’s march toward being number one.
Top assets by market capitalization. Source: CompaniesMarketCap.com
