(Kitco News) - Berkshire Hathaway's long-standing skepticism of gold and Bitcoin may be facing a quiet reevaluation. That's the view of Jack Mallers, CEO of Strike and the newly launched 21 Capital, who responded to Warren Buffett's latest warning about the U.S. dollar with a bold interpretation: the macro backdrop is shifting, and so might Berkshire's positioning.
"We wouldn't want to be owning anything that we thought was in a currency that was really going to hell," Buffett said at his last Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting as the CEO. "And that's the big thing we worry about with the United States currency."
Mallers said the timing of Buffett's comment is "fascinating," especially given Berkshire's massive exposure to U.S. Treasuries.
"Warren owns over … is it $200 billion worth of Treasuries?" Mallers told Kitco News. "So for him to have that self-admission, seeing the bond market getting crushed and questioning the reordering of capital alignment and capital flows globally, says to me the macro environment that we're in," Mallers said.
Buffett has famously dismissed both gold and Bitcoin in the past, calling the former "neither useful nor procreative," and describing Bitcoin as "rat poison squared." But Mallers believes those remarks are outdated. "Those quotes to me are old," he said. "I also consider him a great investor, but an older investor… in a fiat world that lived through this world reserve currency era."
With Berkshire sitting on $330 billion in cash and Treasuries, Mallers sees a potential reallocation on the horizon. "I'd be curious… if he has a change in tune," he said. "Because the two most fixed supply, credible assets in the world are gold and Bitcoin."
Bitcoin's surge to the edge of $100,000 and gold's breakout past $3,500 an ounce have intensified discussion about a broader rotation away from fiat-based instruments and into hard assets. Mallers attributes Bitcoin's recent 30% rally to a fiat liquidity wave driven by the U.S. Treasury, not the Federal Reserve. "The bond market was falling apart, dollar down, stocks down," he said. "And we saw [U.S. Secretary of the Treasury] Bessent and financial leaders come out and say, 'We will print the money.'"
Mallers emphasized that the U.S. is now "structurally short bond volatility" and reliant on hedge funds and highly leveraged buyers to absorb government debt. "Who in their right mind would lend money to someone who can't control how they spend it and is already in $36 trillion worth of debt?" he asked. "It's not China anymore. It's not Russia. It's hedge funds in the Cayman Islands and stablecoins."
In that context, Mallers argues, Bitcoin and gold are becoming essential macro hedges. "Capital is flowing into gold from trade surpluses," he said. " And Bitcoin is the most sensitive asset to that. It's the most fixed asset in the history of our species. It's the most accessible smoke alarm to fiat liquidity. I think it's the direct response to money printing. I think Bitcoin smells it."
Whether Berkshire will actually buy Bitcoin or gold remains to be seen. But Mallers suggested the logic is becoming increasingly compelling. "To be the world reserve currency, you gotta have an asset backing it that people want," he said. "That was traditionally U.S. debt and Treasuries. That slowly became the Mag 7. And now … gold or Bitcoin."
Are we entering a post-dollar world, and what comes next? Watch the full interview above for more insights!
