Mr. Warren Buffett has a sage-like image and fan-following in the global investment community and the world at large. And it is for very good reasons! He has been one of the world’s richest men for a long time and has maintained amazing levels of humility and discipline. I think among his biggest strength is his ability to move past his past mistakes and continue to back himself. He does his research and when he sees an opportunity, he has the conviction and fortitude to follow through even if it is not the conventional thing to do.

In the past year or so, Bitcoin has grown to become mainstream and the idea behind a decentralized and open currency has ruffled feathers in the finance industry. So much so that even Warren Buffett has clearly expressed his hatred for the cryptocurrency. To be clear though, he never really promotes or sells his point of view. People ask and he answers and that is completely fair.

That brings us to one of Buffett’s key learnings: back yourself. When Buffett says Bitcoin is dangerous, that should be ONE of the inputs to your research, among many many others. You should not stop there! If that sounds too daunting, you can simply look elsewhere at other assets.

For eg., let’s try to play devil’s advocate on Buffett’s criticsm of Bitcoin.

He says Bitcoin is like Gold and Gold is an unproductive asset. But Gold really is as productive as you make it to be. You can buy Gold and sell it as jewelry! That may not be a great business idea but it does have better returns than holding and staring at a cube of Gold (which is its only use as per Buffett)! You are also not holding it in hopes of someone buying it from you at a higher price. On the other hand, you can always buy a stock for the “wrong reasons” i.e. hoping someone buys it from you at a higher price. Not everyone has Buffett-level discipline and conviction.

To conclude, I would also mention that any healthy system should allow for dissent. Maybe this is why capitalism and democracy are considered the best among their respective systems. Hence, disagreeing with Buffett is probably OK. After all, if he were to pass Bitcoin and Wells Fargo through the same ethics test, Bitcoin would still probably come out ahead!