Billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel went off today at the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami.
During his keynote speech, the PayPal cofounder called out who he believed to be Bitcoin’s “enemies.” Thiel named investment icon Warren Buffett, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, and BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, Bloomberg reported. He referred the trio as a “gerontocracy” against what he portrayed as a revolutionary cryptocurrency movement.
“We’re going to try to expose them,” Thiel said. He went on to call Buffett “the sociopathic grandpa from Omaha,” adding he was “enemy No. 1,” according to Bloomberg.
Thiel argued that the traditional investors should be giving money to Bitcoin.
“When they choose not to allocate to Bitcoin, that is a deeply political choice, and we need to be pushing back against them,” Thiel said.
In addition to holding Bitcoin himself, Thiel has invested in blockchain-based companies and cryptocurrency exchanges as a partner at venture capital Founders Fund. He’s also reportedly been part of a coalition funding Republican politics.
Warren Buffett did not immediately return Coins2Day’ s request for comment. A representative for Jamie Dimon declined to comment.
When asked for a comment, representatives for BlackRock directed Coins2Day to Fink’s March letter to BlackRock shareholders, in which he discussed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, how it will prompt governments to reevaluate digital currencies, and the positives to a “thoughtfully designed” global digital payment system.
Next up on Thiel’s list of “enemies”? The term ESG, or environmental, social, and governance standards, an increasingly popular way to evaluate investments, and the impact they have on the world.
“The finance gerontocracy that runs the country through whatever silly virtue signaling slash hate factory term like ESG they have, versus what I would call, what we have to think of as a revolutionary youth movement.”
Thiel added that he thinks Bitcoin-associated companies are a target for ESG firms because they’re among few entities not subject to heavy government influence, Bloomberg reported.
“Perhaps the real enemy is ESG,” Thiel said.
Bitcoin has been widely criticized for using huge amounts of energy and harming the environment.
April 7, 2022: This article has been updated with a response from BlackRock.
