Bitcoin

What Berkshire Holdings Can Tell Us About Bitcoin’s Future Price

Published

8 months ago

20 May, 2024

SatoshiTimes Staff

What Berkshire Holdings Can Tell Us About Bitcoin’s Future Price

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Billionaire investor Warren Buffett, known as the “Oracle of Omaha,” famously expressed his dislike for Bitcoin by referring to it as “rat poison squared” in 2018. Buffett emphasized that Bitcoin lacks intrinsic value, comparing its fascination with playing roulette.

Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Charlie Munger recently advocated for the US to follow China’s example and ban it, characterizing Bitcoin as a gambling contract heavily skewed in favor of the house.

With Berkshire Hathaway achieving its highest annual profit last year, it currently holds crypto assets. Does this mean a big change in the way institutional investors perceive digital assets? As noted by cryptocurrency advocate Anthony Scaramucci:

Value investing

Berkshire Hathaway, led by Warren Buffett, stands out as one of the largest stocks in the S&P 500 by market value, placing it close to the technology titans in terms of market capitalization.

Despite Berkshire’s impressive stock gains, its diversified business portfolio and strong insurance performance elicited positive sentiment from analysts.

Sector	2023 (in millions)	2022
Insurance underwriting	$5,428	$(30)
Insurance investment income	$9,567	$6,484
Railroad	$5,087	$5,946
Utilities and energy	$2,331	$3,904
Other businesses and miscellaneous items	$14,937	$14,549
Operating profit	$37,350	$30,853

However, Berkshire’s substantial size presents challenges in pursuing significant acquisitions, as Buffett acknowledged in his letter to shareholders. The conglomerate’s record cash reserves reflect its struggle to find compelling deals at favorable valuations. Buffett tempered expectations, indicating that Berkshire may not deliver a “surprising performance” in the short term.

Berkshire’s best year

Berkshire Hathaway recorded its biggest annual profit ever last year. The company reported net profit of US$97.1 billion last year, a sharp drop from the US$22 billion loss in 2022 due to a drop in investment.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

Last week, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. saw its shares retreat after hitting a record, bringing its market value closer to $1 trillion. Despite briefly surpassing $925 billion in market capitalization, shares closed down 1.9% after a brief 3.1% gain earlier in the day, marking their biggest one-day jump since August.

Berkshire previously reported higher operating profits of $8.48 billion in the fourth quarter, up from $6.63 billion a year earlier. This increase was attributed to improved insurance underwriting income and investment income, supported by higher interest rates and milder weather conditions.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

Despite its impressive performance, Berkshire’s valuation contrasts with that of the tech giants that dominate today’s market, with its shares trading in two classes, including high-priced Class A shares.

Recently, Berkshire reported net income of $12.7 billion in the first quarter, a 64% decrease from $35.5 billion the previous year. Despite this, the company earned almost $7 billion from its portfolio last year. Berkshire shares are up 11% in 2024, outperforming the S&P 500’s 8% total return.

Nubank

Nu Holdings do Brasil has launched innovative products like Nucripto, allowing users to trade cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. In June 2021, Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway invested US$500 million in Nubank, later adding another US$250 million during its IPO, bringing the total investment to US$1 billion in 2021.

companiesmarketcap.com

In 2023, Nu Holdings saw a price increase of over 100%, surpassing Buffett’s other holdings such as Amazon, Apple, Coca-Cola, Bank of America and making it the most profitable investment in Berkshire Hathaway’s portfolio for the year past. Despite Buffett’s traditional aversion to crypto, his continued holding in Nu Holdings suggests an optimistic outlook on the stock’s future.

Nubank offers digital financial services, including access to a Bitcoin ETF through its investment unit, NuInvest. Its goal is to capitalize on this market by offering innovative financial services and addressing customer dissatisfaction with high fees and poor experiences.

Although cryptocurrencies are not aligned with Buffett’s investment principles, their substantial gains, such as Bitcoin’s 150% increase in 2023, could influence Berkshire’s future investment decisions. Berkshire’s investment in Nubank suggests a strategic move into the digital finance sector, despite personal reservations about crypto.

Profiting

Berkshire’s cash reserves Reached a record $189 billion in the first quarter of 2024, as the conglomerate continued to divest shares, including a significant portion of its holdings in Apple.

The company revealed that it sold almost $20 billion worth of shares in the first three months of the year, while purchasing just $2.7 billion, reducing the value of its stock portfolio from $354 billion at the end of 2023 to 336 billion dollars.

Bitcoin ETF Effect

With the successful launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs earlier this year, investment firms are looking closely at digital assets and crypto businesses. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, once a skeptic, now expresses strong belief in Bitcoin as an asset class, comparing its role to that of gold in protecting wealth.

Similarly, Fidelity, known for its efforts in developing a crypto ecosystem spanning trading, ETFs, and custody services, promotes resources to help individuals “trade cryptocurrencies with clarity,” signaling the growing acceptance and interest in cryptocurrency among traditional financial institutions.

Wall Street’s next big foray into digital assets will likely come in May. This is when the SEC faces a deadline to approve or deny the first ETFs to hold Ether, the second largest cryptocurrency, with a market value of US$393 billion.

Companies such as Fidelity, BlackRock and Invesco have signed up to launch Ether ETFs. A Bernstein Research report in February said the products were almost certain to gain approval next year.

About the author

Dan Burgin

Dan is an editor and news writer with 12 years of experience in finance and emerging technologies, with a strong focus on cryptography. Covering a wide spectrum of topics from fintech startups to AI, it provides an in-depth overview of the current state of the crypto market along with insights into its potential for future disruption.

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Bitcoin

What to watch for in the markets

Published

6 months ago

21 July, 2024

SatoshiTimes Staff

Photo: Andrew Harnik (Getty Images)

After witnessing one of the largest global IT outages on record, affecting the travel, finance and healthcare sectors worldwideThis week is set to see more political drama, events, and earnings reports from tech giants.

Donald Trump’s ‘Lovefest’ Sets Jamie Dimon Up for Consideration for Treasury Secretary Job

Let’s take a look at what awaits us:

Major companies will release their earnings reports

Major tech companies and others will release their earnings reports this week, paving the way for what the second half of 2024 will look like.

Monday

Verizon will report earnings before the start of operations.

Tuesday

Coca-Cola, Comcast and UPS are all set to report earnings before the market opens.
Tesla will report earnings in the morning, while General Motors will report earnings in the evening.
Alphabet and Visa will report results after the market closes.

Wednesday

AT&T will release its report before the market opens.
Ford and Chipotle will report earnings after the market closes.

Thursday

Earnings reports from AstraZeneca, American Airlines and Southwest Airlines will be released before the market opens.

Trump to speak at Bitcoin conference

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will speak at the next Bitcoin Conference in Nashville, Tennesseewhich is scheduled for July 25-27. While this is the first time a presidential candidate will attend the conference, it has sparked a debate over whether the crypto-friendly Trump will receive support from the crypto community in the upcoming election.

In addition to Trump, independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will also discuss crypto during the conference. Crypto advocates such as ARK Investment’s Cathie Wood, MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor, and whistleblower Edward Snowden are among some prominent names who will be participating in the conference.

Ether ETFs are on the way

New Ether Spot ETFs are set to begin trading on Tuesday, July 23. Much like the spot Bitcoin ETFs, these ETFs will allow investors to buy the second most popular cryptocurrency like stocks. BlackRock, Ark Invest/21Shares, VanEck, Grayscale, Fidelity, Bitwise, Franklin Templeton, and Invesco/Galaxy Digital are all set to offer Ether ETFs. Crypto asset manager Bitwise predict that trading in the Ether ETF will drive the price of Ether higher, potentially surpassing $5,000.

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Bitcoin

Cryptocurrency’s Biggest Winners and Losers in a Second Trump Presidency

Published

6 months ago

21 July, 2024

SatoshiTimes Staff

Cryptocurrency’s Biggest Winners and Losers in a Second Trump Presidency

Bitcoin miners and cryptocurrency companies that have been blocked from going public in the U.S. could ultimately be the biggest winners in the digital asset world under a second Donald Trump presidency. Foreign companies at risk of losing market share could end up being the biggest losers.

That’s the view that’s taking hold among market participants and observers in the wake of the former president’s growing embrace of cryptocurrency as his chances of election grow. survey released Thursday by CBS News showed Trump with the majority — 52 percent — of likely voters in his likely November rematch with President Joe Biden.

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Bitcoin

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and Cryptocurrency Markets Look Ready to ‘Send’ as Stars Align, According to Investor Chris Burniske

Published

6 months ago

21 July, 2024

SatoshiTimes Staff

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and Cryptocurrency Markets Look Ready to ‘Send’ as Stars Align, According to Investor Chris Burniske

Cryptocurrency investor Chris Burniske says Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SUN) and the cryptocurrency market in general seem poised for a run.

Former Head of Cryptocurrency at ARK Invest account his 292,200 followers on social media platform X that several catalysts are aligning, suggesting that digital asset markets are on the verge of a bull run.

According to Burniske, a partner at venture capital firm Placeholder, the highly anticipated launch of Ethereum-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs), Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaking at an upcoming Bitcoin event, and the current state of the BTC, ETH, and SOL charts all suggest significant optimism for the cryptocurrency markets.

“With ETH ETFs set to go live, Trump speaking at The Bitcoin Conference, and BTC, ETH, and SOL charts looking [they do] (while stocks are weak), it’s hard to imagine a world where we don’t ship next week.”

Reuters recently reported that preliminary approval for ETH ETFs has been granted as the Bitcoin Conference is scheduled to take place from July 25-27.

BTC, ETH, and SOL are trading at $67,333, $3,528, and $174 at the time of writing, respectively.

The venture capitalist too provides an update on his prediction that the total crypto market cap will eventually hit $10 trillion. According to his chart, the path to $10 trillion is currently “23%” complete, as it sits around $2.2 trillion.

Source: Chris BurniskeX

Earlier this month, Burniske he said in an interview with Real Vision CEO Raoul Paul that he has his eye on the Move ecosystem, which was originally built by social media giant Meta and then used to develop layer 1 blockchains Sui (IUE) and Apts (APT).

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Bitcoin

Here’s the next target for BTC before bulls can hold out for $70K

Published

6 months ago

21 July, 2024

SatoshiTimes Staff

Here’s the next target for BTC before bulls can hold out for $70K

Bitcoin’s recovery is going well, and the market is seemingly poised to create a new all-time high in the near term.

Technical analysis

Per NegotiationRage

The daily chart

As the daily chart shows, the price of Bitcoin has been rising since it broke above the 200-day moving average.

The market has also reclaimed the $60K and $65K levels and is moving towards the $68K resistance zone, which could be the last hurdle before creating a new all-time high. With the RSI also indicating that the price has clear bullish momentum, it could be just a matter of time.

Source: TradingView

The 4-hour chart

Looking at the 4-hour chart, it is evident that the price has been rising rapidly since breaking the downtrend line to the upside. The market also broke the $65K resistance level with momentum, turning it into a support.

While almost everything points to a new record high in the coming weeks, there is one worrying sign. The RSI is showing a clear bearish divergence between recent price highs, which could indicate a correction or even a reversal in the near term.

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