Libertarian tech investor Peter Thiel challenged the most powerful figures in the US financial world over their criticism of Bitcoin at the Bitcoin conference in Miami, accusing them of trying to suppress what has become a powerful political movement.
An outspoken opponent and early investor of Facebook, Thiel described respected investor Warren Buffett as a "sociopathic grandfather." He also described Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, and Larry Fink, chairman of BlackRock, as part of a "financial gerontocracy" that wants to push cryptocurrencies away from the mainstream. Limenian note: Gerontocracy means "system ruled by the elderly".
Speaking in front of a cheering crowd at the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami, Thiel harshly criticized the opponents of Bitcoin. Thiel described Bitcoin as part of a "revolutionary youth movement" that seeks to overturn traditional finance, threatening the establishment and its wealth.
Thiel, co-founder of PayPal, has long argued that digital currencies can replace the current financial system. PayPal had recently abandoned its goals of issuing its own digital currency to accommodate the current world of payments. Although PayPal is currently valued at $130 billion, Thiel described the company as a disappointment when it could have been in a better place.
In contrast, he claimed that $830 billion worth of Bitcoin has the potential to compete with gold, which has a market cap of $13 trillion. He said that as inflation rises and reliance on fiat currencies wanes, Bitcoin will surpass its market cap.
He claimed that the big players in the financial world are deliberately trying to suppress Bitcoin to protect their own power. “This is a movement, and it is a political question whether this movement will succeed or whether the enemies of the movement will succeed in stopping us. Buffett is enemy number one,” he added.
Thiel criticizes the ethics-driven investment fashion with long-term goals focused on the environment, society and governance, also known as ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) for short, describing it as a core part of the system he uses to crush anything that threatens the power of the traditional financial system.
Comparing the focus on social and corporate governance issues to the way the Chinese Communist party works, he claimed the ESG has become "a factory of hate for labeling enemies." He also described environmental investments as "a kind of fraudulent."
