Venture capitalist Peter Thiel has publicly identified an “enemies list” of notable figures he believes are obstructing the progress of Bitcoin. Among those he criticized are JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon and Warren Buffett, whom he referred to as “the sociopathic grandpa from Omaha.”
During his speech at the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami, Thiel highlighted Buffett, Dimon, and BlackRock’s CEO Larry Fink as members of the “finance gerontocracy” stifling cryptocurrency advancement. As he addressed the audience, the PayPal co-founder and supporter of Donald Trump threw a bundle of $100 bills into the crowd, which responded with boos at the mention of Buffett’s name. Thiel expressed his disdain for government and so-called “woke companies,” asserting that traditional stock investments link individuals to government-affiliated organizations.
He stated, “These companies—woke companies—are somewhat under government control in a manner that Bitcoin will never be,” reinforcing Bitcoin’s independence. Thiel positioned Bitcoin as the “most honest” and “most efficient” market, declaring that it serves as a warning sign for high inflation levels. He emphasized the need for advocates to push Bitcoin’s value to increase tenfold or even a hundredfold.
Thiel also criticized Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) criteria, describing them as a “hate factory” and suggesting that associations with ESG should evoke thoughts of the Chinese Communist Party.