Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has surpassed $1 trillion in market capitalization, making it now worth nearly as much as the entire Bitcoin (BTC) market.
Buffett Could Do Just Fine Without Bitcoin in 2024
Berkshire Hathaway’s stock BRK.A, up 0.75% on August 28, is now worth more than $1 trillion. The stock is up more than 29% so far in 2024, outpacing the S&P 500’s 17% gain and lagging Bitcoin’s 31% gain over the same period.
Bitcoin’s market cap is $1.18 trillion as of August 29.
BTC/USD and BRK.A year-to-date performance chart. Source: TradingView
The slight difference in the year-to-date returns of Berkshire Hathaway and Bitcoin illustrates something interesting. Despite Warren Buffett’s well-known distaste for cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin “rat poison,” his investment strategy has been almost identical to Bitcoin’s performance in 2024.
In other words, Bitcoin holders are doing just as well as the “Oracle of Omaha.”
Meanwhile, Berkshire’s diverse portfolio of businesses spanning insurance, energy, manufacturing, retail and services delivered impressive 2024 earnings. Those businesses generated $22.8 billion in profits in the first half of the year, up 26% from a year earlier.
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Winners in the portfolio include BNSF Railroad, Geico Auto Insurance, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Dairy Queen ice cream, Brooks running shoes, Jinsu Knife, and The World Book Encyclopedia.
Berkshire also has a large stake in Apple, but sold half of its stake earlier this year. Thanks to the sale, the company had $276.9 billion in cash and cash equivalents as of June 30, most of which were U.S. Treasury bonds.
BTC/USD vs Apple stock daily year-to-date performance chart. Source: TradingView
Buffett has said he has no plans to convert his cash holdings into Bitcoin, despite the asset’s growing importance as a financial asset, especially after the launch of a Bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the United States in January.
Bitcoin Continues to Beat Berkshire Hathaway
Berkshire Hathaway stock has consistently underperformed Bitcoin over the past decade, falling 99.98% against BTC/USD since its 2011 high.
BRK.A/BTCUSD Monthly Performance Chart. Source: TradingView
According to the results of the Nakamoto Portfolio Simulator, if Berkshire Hathaway had included just 1% of Bitcoin in its existing portfolio, it would have seen returns increase from about 185% to 207% over a five-year adjustment period when it had also held major stocks such as Apple, Bank of America, and American Express.
source: Nakamoto Portfolio
Moreover, if Buffett had allocated 5-10% of his portfolio to Bitcoin, he could have achieved an impressive return of 130.97-279.64% over the same period.
This article does not contain any investment advice or recommendations. All investment and trading moves involve risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making decisions.