One of our readers wrote the following in a comment:
Buffett does value investing within his own capabilities and is risk-averse. He never takes risks. Therefore, he does not have any worries about buying Altcoin or what to do if there is no Altcoin bull market.
This passage reminds me of a major change in my understanding of Buffett's investment style and philosophy over the past period of time.
A long time ago, I once bluntly stated in an article that Buffett's attitude towards Bitcoin showed that the old man was completely out of touch with modern technology and the virtual age.
When I wrote this review, what I wanted to express more in my heart was my disdain for the old gentleman.
Looking back today, although I still think that the old man’s understanding of modern technology may not be as fast as ours, I no longer dare to have the same disdainful attitude as before.
As my experience grows, I increasingly realize that, as an investor, it is remarkable to understand the limits of one's own abilities and to be able to stick to one's investment principles despite strong external interference.
In addition to Bitcoin, the old man has also bluntly expressed his ignorance of high-tech stocks and even Silicon Valley venture capital on many occasions.
In the Q&A session at the Buffett shareholder meeting, he and Munger highly praised the success of American venture capital in the high-tech field, but admitted that they really did not understand why these venture capitals could do so well, and even more so why they could invest in companies in that way.
He bluntly said that the two old men were still accustomed to their own investment methods and could only understand those old-fashioned traditional companies.
Not only Buffett, but also Duan Yongping, a Chinese investor whom I admire very much, has had a very straightforward attitude towards Bitcoin.
In a conversation a long time ago, when he talked about Bitcoin, he said very frankly that he didn't understand Bitcoin at all and didn't understand why it had value, so he didn't buy it.
When I first saw his remarks, I also thought he was out of date, but when I read that conversation again later, I felt that he, like Buffett, recognized the limits of his abilities and adhered to investment principles.
It is easy to say that you need to recognize the limits of your capabilities and stick to investment principles, but it is actually very difficult to do.
Let’s ask ourselves:
Including ourselves, how many people have actually read the Bitcoin white paper, read the history of Bitcoin's development, understood the hard work of those predecessors in the history of Bitcoin's development, and thus believed in their hearts that Bitcoin has value and firmly believed that Bitcoin will be more valuable in the future, before buying it?
I believe that the vast majority of people do not buy Bitcoin for the reasons mentioned above, but because they learn by chance that Bitcoin can make people "get rich overnight."
In fact, Buffett and Duan Yongping probably knew about Bitcoin earlier than many of us. They must also know the story of how Bitcoin made people "rich overnight", and they also know that the growth of Bitcoin is more rapid than the stocks they hold.
However, they recognize the limits of their own capabilities and stick to their own investment principles. They are able to completely block out the interference and temptation of such increases and continue to work hard in their own territory without wavering.
How many people can do this?
In our ecosystem, most investors have no limits on their abilities and no investment principles.
Especially when a hot spot comes, most investors would rather rush at a high price than miss the so-called "opportunity". However, the result of doing so is mostly ending up with losses or even zero.
Perhaps this is a big difference between the masters and ordinary investors.
To this day, I am still confident that my understanding of the crypto ecosystem is slightly deeper than that of Buffett and Duan Yongping. Therefore, I firmly believe in the value and future of Bitcoin, and even more so in the value and future of the crypto ecosystem.
But compared with these great predecessors, what we need to learn more is to always clearly understand the limits of our abilities and stick to our investment principles like them.
This will enable us to achieve results and gains in the fields we are deeply involved in that are difficult for others to achieve.
