Buffett began his answer by saying that if all the attendees in the conference owned “all the farmland in the United States” or “all the apartments in the country” and they offered him a 1% stake for $25 billion, he would write them a check on the spot. (then went on to say that about bitcoin)

Own assets people need. It’s a pretty simple investing philosophy.

Crypto doesn’t produce anything, nor can you buy anything with it you can’t buy with fiat except perhaps drugs online. What’s the value of magic tokens whose speciality is avoiding monetary controls for illicit goods? No one needs crypto (macro scale), so why would you buy it? Because you hope a greater fool comes along.

Sure, and if he could buy 1% of bitcoin for $25 he would probably do that too? Since he could easily sell it again for a higher price.

It seems the issue was with buying _all_ the bitcoin, since it suggests that nobody wants it anymore, so he wouldn't be able to sell it.

Yep. Most of the comments here are really disappointing nonsense that take the quote out of context and apply bad reasoning to it

Yeah he doesn't do this buy low sell high thing. He is not a trader. He believes in owning things that generate value. He wouldn't take half of all btc for $25 either

Buffett is pretty consistent in living modestly in all aspects. He lived in the same house in Omaha from 1958 - 2022, which asked $877,000, which a lot less that a lot of Zen monasteries, if for no other reason than the monasteries house more people. But monasteries have a tendency to be pretty nice: you have to house a bunch of people, and the non-monks tend to donate money over time. Buffett is known for modest living. I think corporate headquarters now employs 10 people (market cap of almost $700 billion). He's pledged to give away all his money by the time he retires, and has already spent quite a few years giving it away, which is why he's down to a net worth of $99 billion.

He's no ascetic: he enjoys a good steak (and tons of Coke) and he had an $11 million vacation house. But fairly modest, especially for someone who has voting control of a $700 billion corporation (which he built from pretty much nothing).