Charlie Munger says crypto is a bad combo of fraud and delusion — ‘good for kidnappers’

Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Charlie Munger, a longtime cryptocurrency skeptic, said digital currencies are a malicious combination of fraud and delusion.

“This is a very, very bad thing. The country did not need a currency that was good for kidnappers,” Munger said in an interview with CNBC’s Becky Quick that aired on “Squawk Box” on Tuesday. “There are people who think they’ve got to be on every deal that’s hot. I think that’s totally crazy. They don’t care whether it’s child prostitution or bitcoin.”

The 98-year-old investor’s comment came after a wild week for the industry. FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after concerns over the company’s financial health resulted in a run on the exchange and a plunge in the value of its native FTT token. Binance had backed out of a deal acquiring FTX after reports of mishandled customer funds and alleged U.S. government investigations into FTX.

“You are seeing a lot of delusion. Partly fraud and partly delusion. That’s a bad combination,” Munger said.

The price of bitcoin, the world’ largest cryptocurrency, has fallen more than 60% this year to trade below $17,000, according to Coin Metrics.

“Good ideas, carried to wretched excess, become bad ideas,” Munger said. “Nobody’s gonna say I got some s*** that I want to sell you. They say – it’s blockchain!”

Listen to the full interview with Munger on the Squawk Pod podcast.