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Binance CEO: We don't need to convince Warren Buffett to invest in crypto

Brian Sozzi
·Executive Editor
·3-min read

Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao says it's totally OK if billionaire investors like Warren Buffett don't get into the cryptocurrency space, it's not for everyone.

In fact, Zhao thinks the Berkshire Hathaway CEO would be wise not to get involved.

"I wouldn't convince him to invest in crypto. I think it's not necessary that everybody has to invest in crypto," Zhao said on Yahoo Finance Live. "My mom doesn't use the internet that much and that's fine. The internet is fine. My mom is fine. So I basically think it's a free world. We don't have to convince everybody to use crypto, it's only for the people that want to use crypto."

Zhao praised Buffett's investing skills after reading a book about the Oracle of Omaha, "Warren Buffett: Inside the Ultimate Money Mind."

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"I recently just stumbled upon it, and it's a great book, actually," he said. Buffett "has many investment theses that are timeless. And that still applies to crypto. It's just that he's not personally interested in crypto."

Even though Buffett isn't too keen on crypto, Zhao said he thinks they have similar investing strategies.

"He likes to hold a small number of stocks that he knows well. And he doesn't want to diversify over across hundreds of stocks. And that's very similar to my personal mentality. I only hold BMB and BTC. I don't diversify myself across different crypto assets," Zhao said.

He added that Buffett "is at a different stage in his life where I think the learnings, the philosophies, the teachings are valuable to the world. He is super successful which I respect a lot. We don't need to get him into crypto. He used a flip phone based on a couple years ago. I get worried if he uses crypto, he may not have the necessary skills or the knowledge on how to keep his own crypto safe."

Buffett has been a vocal critic of crypto, famously calling it "rat poison" in a 2018 interview. Buffett's righthand man Charlie Munger called bitcoin "disgusting and contrary to the interests of civilization" at Berkshire's annual meeting earlier this year.

While Zhao praised Buffett's investing acumen, he had sharper words for another member of the billionaire club.

"Well, I don't intend to be sassy on Twitter... In his tweet he said I am shady," said Zhao on Yahoo Finance Live, when asked about a recent Twitter exchange with Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

Binance suspended dogecoin withdrawals on Nov. 11 due to a glitch during a network update. Musk — a long-time proponent of dogecoin — tweeted Tuesday morning that the Binance suspension looked "shady."

Added Zhao, "I am not aggressive by nature, but not submissive or cowardly when it comes to defending our business. I view defending Binance as my job and the crypto industry as my life's mission."

Brian Sozzi is an editor-at-large and anchor at Yahoo Finance. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn.

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