berkshire hathaway inc nyse brkanyse brkb vice chairman charlie munger on tuesday nov 15 trashed cryptocurrencies in the wake of the ftx fallout this is a very very bad thing the country did not need a currency that was good for kidnappers munger said in an interview on cnbcs squawk box what to know munger the righthand man of warren buffett has long been opposed to bitcoin btcusd and other digital currencies his comments come as the entire crypto industry is in peril related link want to invest like warren buffett all the moves the billionaire made last quarter ftx related trading firm alameda research and approximately 130 affiliated companies filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in early november following the collapse of the ftx token fttusd and the unraveling of sam bankmanfried speculation surrounding ftx started near the beginning of the month following reports that a significant portion of alameda researchs balance sheet consisted of ftt the token plunged as the crypto market became concerned about ftxs liquidity rival exchange binance then agreed to acquire ftx before backing out of the deal shortly after citing corporate due diligence as well as the latest news reports regarding mishandled customer funds and alleged us agency investigations i see people who were once regarded as very reputable people helping these things exist munger said there are people that think that youve got to be in on every deal thats hot and they dont care whether its child prostitution or bitcoin why it matters the ftx decay is widespread and the entire crypto industry is being viewed like a bottle of hemlock dont drink me munger noted that rome took a long time to decline from its peak and suggested that the same could happen to other civilizations all of the people who are promoting bitcoin are promoting the decline of civilization he added you are seeing a lot of delusion its partly fraud and partly delusion that’s a bad combination munger said photo created with an image from nick webb on flickr