Greg Abel said little about Bitcoin, but he doesn't need to. His silence is loud and clear as day. The guy who is about to run Berkshire Hathaway, the most powerful financial machine on the planet, treats crypto as if it doesn't even exist.
And this is exactly the same playbook Warren Buffett used before directly calling Bitcoin a 'rat poison squared' and unhesitatingly throwing it in the trash. No one expects Greg to suddenly wake up and start stacking SATS. That’s not who he is, and that’s not what Berkshire has ever done.
In an extensive investigation by Cryptopolitan, Greg has not made a single public statement about crypto. We see a person who has spent his entire life investing in real things. Utilities. Railroads. Retail networks. Assets with wires, wheels, and weight.
You don’t get to the top of Berkshire’s utility empire by chasing volatile coins, although people on X are still clinging to the miracle. Now they are calling for a summary as major institutions like BlackRock are in the Bitcoin game with ETFs. The online chatter calling this hope 'Peak Hopium' is likely the most realistic it has ever been.
As long as Greg keeps his mouth shut and says differently, our assumption is clear: he keeps Berkshire away from crypto, just as Buffett did.
Greg is taking control with hundreds of billions at his disposal.
In any case, last weekend 40,000 shareholders gathered in Omaha to give Warren Buffett applause. This was his last important moment as the boss of the empire he built over six decades. And right there in the crowd, standing and applauding, was Greg Abel.
When the next annual meeting occurs in 2026, all these people will be watching him. The torch has been passed.
Now Greg is 62 years old, and he is actually from Canada. He graduated from the University of Alberta and began rising through Berkshire’s utility business a few years ago and has made his way to the top.
Warren wrote in his 2023 letter that they lived a few blocks apart in Omaha back in the 90s, but somehow they never ran into each other.
Warren told investors at the meeting on Saturday: 'We will be inundated with proposals that we will be glad to have cash for.' He then added: 'It would be much more fun if this happened tomorrow, but it is very, very unlikely that it will happen tomorrow.'
This is a situation that Greg inherits. He has money. He has power. What he doesn’t have is Warren's reputation, and he lacks flexibility.
"He is not known as an investor," said Bill Stone, chief investment officer at Glenview Trust, which holds Berkshire shares. Stone said his trust in the company came from Buffett's history when he was a solid steward, not tracking Greg. That feeling is everywhere. People still don’t know whether Greg has what it takes to move billions of dollars in the right direction.
Greg didn’t even touch the company’s $264 billion stock. That is still not a limit. This is one of Berkshire's most important assets, and the new CEO hasn’t received the keys. All his big wins so far have been in operations, particularly energy.
Larry Cunningham, director of the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance, called Greg 'the operations guy.' He said Buffett's approach worked because it made managers earn his trust. Now Greg has to figure out how to maintain the same level of respect without tying himself to micromanagement.
Crypto is being ignored as Wall Street closely watches Greg.
Greg's job is becoming even harder because people expect him to match Warren's investment decisions. And let's be real - no one does that, it's impossible. Christopher Bloomstran, president of Semper Augustus and a long-time Berkshire shareholder, said:
"I think the replacement for Warren Buffett is impossible. Greg will be under a microscope, not so much from the shareholder base, but from the public eye."
And in addition to all this pressure, Greg has to watch out for takeover threats. Recently, Berkshire hasn't bought much because valuations are too high. Warren said they have already picked everything worth acquiring. That's why Berkshire hasn't been interested in deals lately.
But if buybacks made after the pandemic begin to fail under heavy debt and a weak economy, then sitting on the sidelines may ultimately look smart. Time will tell.
So yes, Wall Street may be ready for Bitcoin, but Berkshire is not.