Tesla founder and current Twitter owner, Elon Musk, revealed that Charles Munger, an economist and investor, may have invested in the electric car company in 2008, when it was still valued at $200 million. By comparison, Tesla's current capitalization is about 3,000 times larger at around $615 billion. At its peak in November 2021, the company was valued at $1.23 trillion.
Musk's followers were not slow to sarcastically assess the expertise of Munger, described by the media as Warren Buffett's right-hand man, in technology investing, recalling in particular his harsh rhetoric on Bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrencies. Analyst and former head of crypto at ARK Invest, Chris Burniske, said that Munger knows exactly how to miss out on a chance of thousands of percent returns.
Munger sure knows how to miss a 1000x when he sees one. https://t.co/Xh8gqVbOxb
— Chris Burniske (@cburniske) February 26, 2023Advertisement
Boomer's signal
Earlier, 99-year-old Munger published an article stating that crypto assets are nothing more than contracts for gambling, calling them "rat poison." He also called on the U.S. authorities to follow in the footsteps of China and ban cryptocurrencies.
Interestingly, the regulatory nightmare over cryptocurrencies in February began immediately after repeated calls for a ban from Munger in the first half of the month. This is funny because the drawdown in the crypto market in December 2021 began just after another round of criticism from the investor. Since then, his speeches on cryptocurrencies have come to be seen as a kind of signal from boomers, expressing public outrage.