Bitcoin vs. Berkshire Hathaway: A Tale of Two Titans

Bitcoin vs Berkshire Hathaway

One could argue that Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) is the Bitcoin of traditional investing. With the stock price closing at $755,280 as of the writing of this article, credit is certainly due to Mr. Buffett and the late Charlie Munger for their Einsteinian understanding of business and finance.

Buffett acquires straightforward and simple businesses like Jordan’s Furniture, which was founded in 1918. He recently purchased Bell Laboratories, a private rodent control company.

Many of these companies are not well known. Berkshire Hathaway acquires companies based on fundamentals, not popularity. Although Buffett owns shares of recognizable brands like Apple (AAPL), the list of companies owned by Berkshire Hathaway is vanilla.

Bitcoin is not vanilla. Bitcoin does not sell furniture or candy, nor does it make rat poison. It is an exotic financial digital asset that does not depend on a board of directors to decide if the Bitcoin halving will occur. The halving simply happens, driven by code. How fitting — Buffett once described Bitcoin as rat poison, yet he ended up buying a company that makes rat poison. Crypto is too exotic for Buffett.

How is Bitcoin and Berkshire Hathaway Alike?

The most obvious similarity between them is their price. Both assets are high-priced. There is anticipation and excitement about when Bitcoin’s (BTC) price will reach one million, but Berkshire Hathaway’s Class A shares (BRK.A) are about $300,000 away from that milestone.

Although both assets are currently high-priced, they were inexpensive in their early days. Fool.com:

Bitcoin did not exist in 1964, but in 2009, it was priced at less than a penny. Bitcoinmagazine.com:

Let’s have a little fun based on this transaction. The following prices are based on the previous day’s close as of September 1, 2025. Let’s compare 5,050 (BTC) against 5,050 (BRK.A).

Asset Performance Comparison: BRK-A vs BTC

Both assets performed beautifully, and the results are impressive. Bitcoin wins in terms of percentage gains, but Berkshire Hathaway takes the lead in dollar gains. Either way, investors would be pleased with both returns. For perspective, at a price of $11.375, just $22.75 (two shares) invested in Berkshire Hathaway would now be worth $1.5 million based on the current price shown in the table above.

For the past five years, both titans have convincingly outperformed the S&P 500. Let’s look at Berkshire Hathaway first.

Let’s take a look at Bitcoin vs. the S&P 500.

Now, let’s see how BTC has performed against BRK.A over the past five years.

In terms of percentage gains, Bitcoin has outperformed Berkshire Hathaway and the S&P 500.

The unicorn feat of those dollar-value and percentage price gains is driven by another commonality between the assets: scarcity. Both assets have a limited supply; most of Bitcoin’s supply has already been mined. Cointelegraph.com:

As of the most recent data, Berkshire Hathaway has approximately 1.44 million Class A shares outstanding, with earnings per share of $43,760.15 over the past 12 months. Absolutely mind-blowing! With a forward P/E ratio of 23, that implies a stock price estimate of over a million dollars.

With such scarce supply and strong demand from investors, the prices of Berkshire Hathaway and Bitcoin behave according to the basic economics of supply and demand. When there is strong demand for a rare asset, its price will likely appreciate.

Although Bitcoin has its share of doubters, both assets are highly regarded by investors. Bitcoin currently has a market cap of $2.19 trillion, while Berkshire Hathaway’s market cap stands at $1.09 trillion. A significant amount of money has been invested in both. Berkshire Hathaway's institutional ownership is 54.15%.

As of August 2025, institutional investors collectively hold approximately 30.9% of Bitcoin’s circulating supply, equating to about 6.1 million BTC. This includes holdings by public companies, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and government entities. Notably, MicroStrategy (now known as Strategy) remains the largest corporate holder, owning around 597,000 BTC.

And finally, let’s have some more fun and see who is richer: Satoshi Nakamoto or Warren Buffett?

The Oracle of Omaha wins for now, but as Bitcoin's supply continues to diminish through the halving, and with sustained demand, the value of Nakamoto’s holdings will likely appreciate.

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Bitcoin vs. Berkshire Hathaway: A Tale of Two Titans was originally published in Coinmonks on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.