Berkshire Hathaway’s top performer this year is Brazilian bank Nubank. The São Paulo-headquartered bank touts itself as a “neobank” and offers blockchain products to its customers.
Nubank allows customers to hold and trade cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether. It also launched its own crypto, Nucoin, in 2022.
Berkshire Hathaway Bags ROI with Nubank Stake
Berkshire has invested $750 million in the Brazilian bank, in an overall stake now worth $840 million. As Forbes Digital Assets reports:
“Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway invested $500 million in Brazil’s Nubank in June 2021 ahead of its initial public offering (IPO) later that year. Buffett’s Nubank holding is thought to be now worth around $840 million after he plowed another $250 million into the startup bank during its IPO.”
Nubank’s stock has gained over 100% in market value year-to-date. Here are some more details of Berkshire’s lucrative stake in Nubank from Investing.com:
“Berkshire initially invested in Nubank during its IPO in 2021, securing 107 million shares that represented a 2% stake. Despite an initial dip of 13% from the IPO price, Nubank’s shares have since recovered, contributing to the substantial gain for Berkshire.”
Over the past year, Nubank has grown its customer base as well as its novel product offerings. Meanwhile, the bank is expanding into Columbia and Mexico with personal loan products.
Is Warren Buffett Finally a Friend to Cryptocurrency?
Long-dubbed the Oracle of Omaha for his prescience in picking businesses to invest in that deliver outstanding ROIs, Warren Buffett has been sour on cryptocurrencies for most of their short history.
In fact, both Warren Buffett and his longtime partner Charlie Munger have been vociferous critics of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency, calling them immoral and “rat poison squared.”
Buffett has joked he wouldn’t buy all the Bitcoin in the world for $25 and said it has no intrinsic value other than as an instrument for gambling.
But with its large stake in Nubank, Berkshire Hathaway seems to be making a handsome profit from the blockchain sector this year. Has the old guard in financial investing finally flipped?
This is assuredly a very bullish sign for mainstream acceptance and institutional adoption of blockchain. That’s especially so when considering the vast bulk of Tradfi holdings in Berkshire’s portfolio, multi-billion dollar stakes in Bank of America, Citigroup, and Visa.
By the way, this isn’t the first time Buffett’s best investment was a Fintech in Brazil. In 2019,Wa his best performer was a Brazilian digital payments company, StoneCo.
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