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On New Year's Eve,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/warren-buffet-convinced-ceo-to-stick-to-stocks" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Warren Buffett</a> is finally stepping down as the chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A, BRK-B) after a tenure of 60 years.
Buffett turned Berkshire Hathaway from a&nbsp;struggling textile&nbsp;manufacturer&nbsp;to a global conglomerate. Now, it is the world's 11th largest company with a market capitalization of over $1 trillion, as per&nbsp;<a href="https://companiesmarketcap.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">CompaniesMarketCap</a>.
The veteran investor, who has been serving as Berkshire CEO since 1965, announced in May that he will exit from the position to make way for the current Vice Chairman, Greg Abel, to take over on Jan. 1, 2026.
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 Dec. 31, 2025 marks Warren Buffett's last day as&nbsp;Berkshire Hathaway CEO.&nbsp;
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Known as the "Oracle of Omaha,” Buffett is considered one of the world's most successful investors ever. With a net worth of $152 billion, he is the world's tenth wealthiest individual,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">as per Bloomberg</a>. 
Buffett inspired a generation of entrepreneurs, such as <a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/stock/microsoft-backed-stock-drops-ahead-of-4-pm-earnings" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Microsoft</a> (Nasdaq: MSFT) founder <a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/investigative-journalist-is-hardly-impressed-with-bill-gates-plan" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Bill Gates</a> and Pershing Square founder <a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/business/crypto-bros-are-taking-billionaire-ackmans-may-i-meet-you-advice-seriously" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Bill Ackman</a>. His sage advice is paid heed to by nearly every investor, young or old.
<a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/warren-buffett-makes-profit-on-surprising-departure-move" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Related: Warren Buffett's Berkshire exits billion-dollar bet ahead of retirement</a>
<h2 id="buffett-retreats-from-rare-asset-class">Buffett retreats from rare asset class</h2>
Berkshire Hathaway, under Buffett's leadership, invested in assets belonging to a range of sectors, such as technology and insurance.
However, unlike Wall Street giants like <a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/blackrock-hits-record-milestone-in-payouts" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">BlackRock</a> (NYSE: BLK), it hardly&nbsp;bothered to explore digital assets.
In fact,&nbsp;Buffett's dislike of cryptocurrencies is public knowledge.&nbsp;He has, on different occasions, referred to <a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/bitcoin" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Bitcoin</a>&nbsp;(BTC) as “probably rat poison squared” and a “gambling token.”
However, it did once hold stakes in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/over-100-million-latin-americans-gain-access-to-the-bitcoin-lightning-network" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Nubank</a>, a crypto-friendly digital bank&nbsp;based in Brazil.
<a href="https://stockcircle.com/portfolio/warren-buffett/nu/transactions" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">As per Stock Circle</a>, Berkshire acquired more than 107 million shares of Nu Holdings (NYSE: NU)—Nubank's parent firm—in Q4 2021.
But the company began divesting its stakes&nbsp;in Nu Holdings in Q3 2024.
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 Source:&nbsp;<a href="https://stockcircle.com/portfolio/warren-buffett/nu/transactions" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Stock Circle</a>
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<a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/warren-buffett-makes-profit-on-surprising-departure-move" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">As reported earlier</a>, Berkshire got completely divested of its stakes in Nu Holdings in&nbsp;Q1 2025, marking a decisive exit from the crypto-related investment.
The holding company gained approximately $250 million by divesting its Nu stakes.
<h3 id="more-news">More News:</h3>
<ul>
 <li><a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/blackrock-shares-2026-shocking-crypto-outlook" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">BlackRock shares 2026 shocking crypto outlook</a></li>
 <li><a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/jpmorgan-chase-reportedly-eyes-crypto-trading-amid-debanking-claims" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">World's largest bank reportedly chases crypto trading amid debanking claims</a></li>
 <li><a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/michael-saylors-strategy-expands-dollar-reserve-instead-of-bitcoin" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Michael Saylor's Strategy expands dollar reserve instead of Bitcoin</a></li>
</ul>
<h2 id="when-buffett-convinced-an-entrepreneur-to-focus-more-on-stock-trading">When Buffett convinced an entrepreneur to focus more on stock trading</h2>
Berkshire's&nbsp;retreat from Nu Holdings is reflective of the broader distrust of digital assets among several established investors like Buffett.&nbsp;
In fact,&nbsp;Yoni Assia, founder of the Israeli e-trading firm eToro (Nasdaq: ETOR) that offers cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, <a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/warren-buffet-convinced-ceo-to-stick-to-stocks" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">revealed in May</a> that&nbsp;Buffett had&nbsp;"actually convinced" him to focus more on stocks and less on crypto.
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 Yoni Assia, co-founder and chief executive officer of EToro Group Ltd., speaks during the EToro Group Ltd. initial public offering event at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York, US, on Thursday, May 15, 2025.
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However,&nbsp;Assia is a believer in crypto and says "Nobody doubts that crypto is here to stay."
<h2 id="when-saylor-calledberkshire-20-sup-th-sup-century-bitcoin">When Saylor called&nbsp;Berkshire '20th century Bitcoin'</h2>
Billionaire&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/michael-saylors-strategy-expands-dollar-reserve-instead-of-bitcoin" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Michael Saylor</a> has turned his software firm, <a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/business/s-p-global-first-crypto-rating" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Strategy</a> (Nasdaq: MSTR), into the world's largest Bitcoin treasury company over the span of the last five years.
In May, he wrote an X post and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/michael-saylor-snubs-berkshire-as-outdated" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">compared</a>&nbsp;Berkshire Hathaway&nbsp;with 20th century Bitcoin.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
 Berkshire Hathaway is 20th Century Bitcoin.— Michael Saylor (@saylor) <a href="https://twitter.com/saylor/status/1918724197666136084?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">May 3, 2025</a>
</blockquote>
Saylor's cryptic comment reflects a novel idea that is believed in by several Bitcoin maximalists.
The dominant store of value in the last century was holding a share of a company that manufactures, pays dividends, and employs thousands of people.
But the dominant store of value in the 21st century is a decentralized digital currency like Bitcoin that isn't controlled by a centralized entity like a government or a bank, Bitcoin maximalists believe.
<h2 id="bitcoin-in-2025">Bitcoin in 2025</h2>
2025 has been a rollercoaster ride for Bitcoin.
The Donald Trump administration brought increased regulatory clarity regarding cryptocurrencies, and several institutional giants like BlackRock dived deeper into digital assets this year.
But Wall Street's tight embrace of crypto assets led to complications.
When Trump threatened&nbsp;in a social media post on Oct. 10 to hike tariffs on China, it led to panic selling in the crypto market and&nbsp;over $19 billion&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/over-19-billion-liquidated-crypto-crash-trump-tariffs" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">got wiped out</a>&nbsp;in a day.
The crypto market has since been unable to recover and has lost over $1 trillion since the crash. The total crypto market cap stood at $3 trillion at the time of writing.
Notably, Bitcoin had peaked at a new record price of&nbsp;$126,198.07 on Oct. 7—only a few days before Trump's explosive post. But the crash has the king coin trading 30% lower at&nbsp;$87,408.44 at press time.
<a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/berkshire-hathaway-warren-buffett-saw-93-gain-on-this-crypto-investment-its-best-performer-in-2023" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Related: Berkshire Hathaway saw 93% gain on this crypto investment, its best performer in 2023</a>

Warren Buffett’s last day as Berkshire CEO puts focus back on rare asset

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