On New Year's Eve, Warren Buffett is finally stepping down as the chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A, BRK-B) after a tenure of 60 years.
Buffett turned Berkshire Hathaway from a struggling textile manufacturer to a global conglomerate. Now, it is the world's 11th largest company with a market capitalization of over $1 trillion, as per CompaniesMarketCap .
The veteran investor, who has been serving as Berkshire CEO since 1965, announced in May that he will exit from the position to make way for the current Vice Chairman, Greg Abel, to take over on Jan. 1, 2026.
Known as the "Oracle of Omaha," Buffett is considered one of the world's most successful investors ever. With a net worth of $152 billion, he is the world's tenth wealthiest individual, as per Bloomberg .
Buffett inspired a generation of entrepreneurs, such as Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) founder Bill Gates and Pershing Square founder Bill Ackman . His sage advice is paid heed to by nearly every investor, young or old.
Related: Warren Buffett's Berkshire exits billion-dollar bet ahead of retirement
Buffett retreats from rare asset class
Berkshire Hathaway, under Buffett's leadership, invested in assets belonging to a range of sectors, such as technology and insurance.
However, unlike Wall Street giants like BlackRock (NYSE: BLK), it hardly bothered to explore digital assets.
In fact, Buffett's dislike of cryptocurrencies is public knowledge. He has, on different occasions, referred to Bitcoin (BTC) as "probably rat poison squared" and a "gambling token."
However, it did once hold stakes in Nubank , a crypto-friendly digital bank based in Brazil.
As per Stock Circle , Berkshire acquired more than 107 million shares of Nu Holdings (NYSE: NU)—Nubank's parent firm—in Q4 2021.
But the company began divesting its stakes in Nu Holdings in Q3 2024.
As reported earlier , Berkshire got completely divested of its stakes in Nu Holdings in Q1 2025, marking a decisive exit from the crypto-related investment.
The holding company gained approximately $250 million by divesting its Nu stakes.
More News:
-
World's largest bank reportedly chases crypto trading amid debanking claims
-
Michael Saylor's Strategy expands dollar reserve instead of Bitcoin
When Buffett convinced an entrepreneur to focus more on stock trading
Berkshire's retreat from Nu Holdings is reflective of the broader distrust of digital assets among several established investors like Buffett.
In fact, Yoni Assia, founder of the Israeli e-trading firm eToro (Nasdaq: ETOR) that offers cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, revealed in May that Buffett had "actually convinced" him to focus more on stocks and less on crypto.
However, Assia is a believer in crypto and says "Nobody doubts that crypto is here to stay."
When Saylor called Berkshire '20th century Bitcoin'
Billionaire Michael Saylor has turned his software firm, Strategy (Nasdaq: MSTR), into the world's largest Bitcoin treasury company over the span of the last five years.
In May, he wrote an X post and compared Berkshire Hathaway with 20th century Bitcoin.
Saylor's cryptic comment reflects a novel idea that is believed in by several Bitcoin maximalists.
The dominant store of value in the last century was holding a share of a company that manufactures, pays dividends, and employs thousands of people.
But the dominant store of value in the 21st century is a decentralized digital currency like Bitcoin that isn't controlled by a centralized entity like a government or a bank, Bitcoin maximalists believe.
Bitcoin in 2025
2025 has been a rollercoaster ride for Bitcoin.
The Donald Trump administration brought increased regulatory clarity regarding cryptocurrencies, and several institutional giants like BlackRock dived deeper into digital assets this year.
But Wall Street's tight embrace of crypto assets led to complications.
When Trump threatened in a social media post on Oct. 10 to hike tariffs on China, it led to panic selling in the crypto market and over $19 billion got wiped out in a day.
The crypto market has since been unable to recover and has lost over $1 trillion since the crash. The total crypto market cap stood at $3 trillion at the time of writing.
Notably, Bitcoin had peaked at a new record price of $126,198.07 on Oct. 7—only a few days before Trump's explosive post. But the crash has the king coin trading 30% lower at $87,408.44 at press time.
Related: Berkshire Hathaway saw 93% gain on this crypto investment, its best performer in 2023
This story was originally published by TheStreet on Dec 31, 2025, where it first appeared in the MARKETS section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
