Bitcoin price LIVE: BTC falls to $9k - Warren Buffett, Bill Gates SLAM crypto 'rat poison

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Bitcoin price LIVE: BTC falls to $9k - Warren Buffett, Bill Gates SLAM crypto 'rat poison'
Bitcoin price live: Buffett slams bitcoin
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Bitcoin price live: Warren Buffett slams bitcoin
BITCOIN recovered for its bank holiday lull last night to post a high of $9,442. However, billionaires Warren Buffett and Bill Gates decided the time was right for another offensive against crypto, with the Berkshire Hathaway CEO calling it "rat poison squared."
By DAVID DAWKINS
PUBLISHED: 13:53, Tue, May 8, 2018
UPDATED: 13:53, Tue, May 8, 2018
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8.00am HEADLINES

Hello and welcome to our rolling coverage of all things cryptocurrency, including price, regulation, innovation and financial crime.

Bitcoin is priced at $9,322 at the start of the day, with Ethereum at $757 and Ripple at $0.83.

Headlines this weekend were dominated by three of the world's richest people using the platform their wealth provides to slam cryptocurrencies.

Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett called bitcoin "probably rat poison squared," and his partner Berkshire Chairman Charlie Munger said trading in cryptocurrencies is "just dementia."

While Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates told CNBC that he would bet against bitcoin if he could.

He said: "As an asset class, you're not producing anything and so you shouldn't expect it to go up. It's kind of a pure 'greater fool theory' type of investment."

"I agree I would short it if there was an easy way to do it."

Updates below throughout the day....

Warren Buffett likened bitcoin to 'rat poison'
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Warren Buffett likened bitcoin to 'rat poison'
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1.50pm - UPDATE - 'Baby brains'

Here's the full report on the rather unsavoury comments from investor Charlie Munger yesterday.

Read more here: Bitcoin is like 'trading freshly harvested baby brains' says investor Charlie Munger

1.40pm - UPDATE - BTC falls

Bitcoin has dropped a thick $277 on the day so far with the price now at $9,087.

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12.11pm - UPDATE - BTC dips as reports arrive on NYSE entry

Bitcoin has shed $87 on the day so far and is now priced at $9,268.

CNBC report that the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is thought to be working on an online trading platform that would allow large investors to buy and hold Bitcoin.

More on this to follow...

11.15am - UDPATE - Experts questions Goldman's arrival

Although most crypto-onlookers are positively buzzing about Goldman Sachs' arrival in the crypto futures space, not everyone is happy.

Read more: Goldman Sachs to offer bitcoin trading: Expert warns of new 'wild west' for global finance

Siam Kidd, director of The Realistic Reader told Express.couk that big banks are looking at “manipulating” the crypto market before it “kills off” the banking industry. With the arrival of Goldman Sachs, Mr Kidd envisions a world where ordinary wallet holders are “clubbed like a baby seal by the big boys”.

He said: “The crypto space is the new wild wild west of markets. No regulations, scams and pump and dumps galore and the perfect hunting ground for predators to swipe money off punters hoping to make their millions."

Mr Kidd warns that, “if I were a big bank and I wanted to start manipulating the crypto market, it's simple. I'd force in a futures market so that I can start manipulating certain cryptos and then I'd buy one of the biggest crypto exchanges out there. This way I'd have a direct feed into the market and could very easily influence or control the market.”

He said: “Well that's exactly what's happened, Goldman has bought Poloniex. This is a marriage made in heaven for Goldman.”

Goldman is set to trade BTC futures
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Goldman is set to trade BTC futures
8.55am - UPDATE - 'Freshly harvested baby brains'

It's bitcoin bashing season and after Berkshire Hathaway chairman and CEO Warren Buffett had his pop vice chairman Charlie Munger decided to join in the fun.

Munger told Yahoo Finance: "The computer science behind bitcoin is a great triumph of the human mind.

“They created a product that’s hard to create more of but not impossible. But I see an artificial speculative medium.

"It’s anti-social, stupid and immoral. Suppose you could make a lot of money trading freshly harvested baby brains. Would you do it?

“To me bitcoin is almost as bad.”

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