We've all heard by now that how the billionaire duo from Berkshire Hathaway hates bitcoin, Buffet called it "Rat Poison", Munger even went so far as to ask the American government to follow the footsteps of China to blanket ban the entire thing in an Op-Ed he wrote to Wall Street Journal.
While its easy to brush their comments aside as geriatric rich old white men who loves Cantilion money, their hatred has a reason. And it has to do with Bitcoin's proof of work mining and massive industry it has accidentally sprung up over the years.
This in my opinion is a massive win for Bitcoin and one of the reason why I'm so bullish of Bitcoin as a disruptor not just to money but the way our society works in very important ways.
Energy Grid
Before anything, some context;
Energy grid industry is complex, I recommend this short video if you want to understand how it kinda works.
TLDR is - Electricity is not like gas and water and as long as supply > demand then all good. In energy supply has to be equal to demand or else the grid gets strained and potential break down.
One of the things that does this balancing effect is something called Curtailment. This is best showcased in the recent phenomenon of the Duck Curve with the rise of renewable energy.
Conversely, another longer standing problem is when there is unforseen surges in energy demand - most famous famous example being the British "TV Pickup" when an entire nation's tv viewer turns on their tea kettle at the same time during credits or commercial and the energy grid scrambles to supplement the extra demand. This birthed an entire industry of on demand power generation companies called "Peaker Plants".
Bitcoin?
How does this tie in to Bitcoin?
With Bitcoin's Proof of Work mining, of course, Bitcoin mining over the years has accidently become a solution to this very complicated problem of balancing energy grid that has faced the energy industry since it began.
Because of bitcoin miner's instant spinup and shutdown process, miners are able to take part in the energy grid market by opting to only mine when electricity when its cheaper or shutdown when other consumer and industrial demand peaks.
One practical example was when bitcoin miner shuts down to allow energy grids to serve consumer homes in warming up themselves during the winter Texas storm.
Meaning, no need for peaker plants to fire up to fulfill that demand.
"We hate Bitcoin, because actually they steal our business"
Guess who has been lobbying for years for the Texas government to build peaker plants in hopes they can warm up Texas households for a fee?
As businessmen, there is no reason for them to care about something that doesn't affect their businesses, especially for the likes of billion dollar companies. They may be old men shouting at the sky, but they are still smart old men shouting for very real reasons.
Bitcoin has robbed these people a chance to enrich themselves further by exploiting common people. That's why they hate Bitcoin specifically.