WARREN Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has invested $1 billion into Nubank, the largest fintech bank in Brazil that’s popular among the country’s Bitcoin investors.
According to a securities filing in the US on February 14, Berkshire Hathaway increased its holdings in Nubank buying a further $1 billion worth of shares after investing $500 million in June 2021 before the company went public in December.
Nubank welcomes cryptocurrency and even offers products such as Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
The ETF has the backing of QR Asset Management, and lists on the B3 stock exchange – the second-oldest in Brazil.
Warren Buffet has not held back when talking about his position on cryptocurrency in the past, calling it “rat poison” and an unproductive asset that “has no unique value at all.”
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Charlie Munger, Buffett’s business partner and vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, also recently said he wished cryptocurrency had “never been invented,” and once called Bitcoin “disgusting and contrary to the interests of civilisation.”
“The Chinese made the correct decision, which is just to simply ban them,” he once said.
But Berkshire Hathaway’s new stake in Nubank shows the pair are opening up to digital currencies and are seeing opportunities in digital financial service providers.
Companies like Nubank are hoping to tap into a huge consumer market of people dissatisfied with traditional banking and the existing financial system.
Nubank cofounder Cristina Junqueira said: “There is so much opportunity in the Latin America region.
“The combination of a great population, horrible customer experiences, and very high fees, it is unmatched.
“Worldwide there is no place that is better suited in terms of having a great opportunity for Fintech companies to tackle.”
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