Source: fortune Compiled by: Ted Wu

Warren Buffett has always made it clear that he does not like cryptocurrencies . Berkshire Hathaway, however, has invested millions of dollars in Nu Holdings Ltd., a Brazilian bank with ties to cryptocurrencies, whose shares are up 34% on the year.

Warren Buffett, CEO and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, has made his stance on cryptocurrencies numerous times: He doesn't like it.

At the 2018 Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting, Buffett once called Bitcoin "probably rat poison squared."

"As far as cryptocurrencies go, I can almost certainly say they're going to end badly," Buffett said in a 2018 interview with CNBC . "We don't hold any cryptocurrencies, we don't short any cryptocurrencies, we will never hold them." "As far as cryptocurrencies go, I can almost certainly say they will end badly," Buffett said in an interview with CNBC in 2018. "We do not hold any cryptocurrencies, we do not short any cryptocurrencies, and we will never hold them."

But recent reports show that Hathaway and some of his investment managers may be becoming more liberal in their views on cryptocurrencies.

Berkshire Hathaway has invested in Nu Holdings, a Brazilian digital banking company that has its own cryptocurrency platform and supports cryptocurrency markets. Berkshire Hathaway initially participated in a $500 million Series G round in 2021 and subsequently invested an additional $250 million, according to Nu.

In 2022, Nu launched its cryptocurrency platform, Nubank Cripto, initially supporting Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Polygon. The platform now includes Uniswap and Chainlink and allows users to send, receive and exchange cryptocurrencies.

Nu Holdings did not immediately respond to Fortune's request for comment.

Berkshire Hathaway will increase its stake in Nu from 0.1% at the end of the fourth quarter of 2022 to the end of fiscal 2024, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing. 0.4% in the third quarter.

Representatives for Berkshire Hathaway and Buffett did not immediately respond to Fortune's request for comment.

This means that as of the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2024, Berkshire Hathaway held more than 86 million Nu shares, worth nearly $1.2 billion. Therefore, Buffett and Berkshire· Hathaway is benefiting from a business he once claimed he didn't understand.

"I've gotten into a lot of trouble for things I thought I knew. ," Buffett told CNBC in 2018 said during the interview. "Then why would I go long or short on something I know nothing about?"

As of noon on Wednesday, Nu Holdings' stock price was up nearly 10% year-over-year. 34%. Now that Berkshire Hathaway appears to be making cryptocurrency-related investments, Buffett may need to rephrase his previous remarks about cryptocurrencies not having an impact.

"If you told me that you owned all the Bitcoins in the world and sold it to me for $25, I wouldn't accept it because I take What is it here for?" Buffett said at the 2022 Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting. "I have to sell it back to you, no matter what. It's not going to do anything."

Be aware, though, that Berkshire Al Hathaway is generally conservative in his investment strategy. Berkshire Hathaway held more than $325 billion in cash and equivalents, mostly in U.S. Treasury securities, according to the company's fourth-quarter 2024 financial statements. This means that Berkshire Hathaway avoids investing heavily in popular stocks even when the market is having a good streak.

"Berkshire has been successful over the years precisely because it has remained boring at this point," boutique investment bank Meyer Shields, managing director of Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, told Fortune's Alaina Botros in a November 2024 interview.