Market News | Buffett Becomes Chairman Emeritus as Crypto's Loudest Critic Steps Back

Berkshire Hathaway said Friday that Warren Buffett will step down as chairman and become chairman emeritus, effective immediately.He had already stepped down as CEO earlier this year, handing the role to longtime lieutenant Greg Abel."Father Time always wins. He has, however, been generous with me," Buffett, 96, wrote in a letter to shareholders.His son Howard Buffett, a Berkshire director since 1993, becomes chairman. Buffett remains on the board and will "continue to offer his valued judgment and perspective," the company said.The Most Quoted Bitcoin Critic Has Formally Stepped BackBuffett called Bitcoin "probably rat poison squared" in 2018 and said in 2022 he would not buy all the Bitcoin in the world for $25.Those remarks have been cited in crypto coverage for years, and his position gave Bitcoin scepticism its most credentialed voice in US investing.The succession does not change Berkshire's holdings. The company owns no crypto, and nothing in Friday's announcement suggests that is under review. Buffett also remains a director.What changes is visibility. Howard Buffett has not publicly stated a position on cryptocurrencies, which removes the annual shareholder meeting as a venue for high-profile criticism — those meetings became a gathering point for investors seeking insight into the broader business landscape, and Bitcoin questions were a recurring feature.Berkshire Has Been Deploying Cash, Not Hoarding ItThe financial position matters more than the personnel change for anyone reading through to markets.In August, Berkshire said it began reducing its enormous cash stockpile in the second quarter, investing billions in stocks including Alphabet and repurchasing billions of its own shares.Quarterly operating profit rose 16% to $12.98 billion, topping forecasts, while net income more than doubled to $25.67 billion including unrealised gains and losses on stocks Berkshire still owns.A company that spent years accumulating cash as a signal of valuation discipline is now spending it. That is a more substantive market read than who holds the chairman title.The Succession Was Announced 16 Months AgoBuffett first said he would step away in May 2025, surprising shareholders and analysts despite his age.After decades at the helm he had become synonymous with the company, making the succession one of the most closely watched in corporate America.The sequencing has been deliberate — CEO first to Abel, then chairman to Howard Buffett, with Warren retaining a board seat. That structure separates operational control from the guardianship of what Berkshire describes as its culture."The culture Warren built and the values he championed will remain at the heart of Berkshire, and Howard will be their guardian," Abel said.What He BuiltBuffett constructed Berkshire into a conglomerate worth approximately $1.03 trillion, spanning Geico car insurance, the BNSF railroad, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Dairy Queen, Fruit of the Loom and Squishmallows.His influence extended beyond it. CEOs across corporate America used him as a sounding board on acquisitions, succession and market turmoil, and his emphasis on long-term thinking, disciplined capital allocation and straightforward management shaped generations of investors.Those principles are the reason his Bitcoin criticism carried weight. The objection was never technological — it was that an asset producing no cash flow cannot be valued by the method he spent six decades applying.That argument does not weaken because he has changed titles, and it is not clear anyone in crypto should treat the succession as a win.The Market ContextBitcoin traded around $78,000 Friday, recovering from $75,972 overnight in a third consecutive day of gains, with every major higher and none of the 40 most liquid coins down over the period.The move followed the Fed's first rate hike since 2023, a dot plot pointing to just one more increase in 2026, and the SEC's innovation exemption for tokenized securities venues announced two days after the Clarity Act failed its Senate cloture vote.WTI crude fell more than 5% to below $96 and the 10-year Treasury yield eased to 4.96%, snapping an eight-day rising streak.