Which of the smartest people on the planet are investing in Bitcoin?
Cryptocurrency assessments by the world's brightest minds play a special role for investors. The market reacts when individuals with a reputation for intellectual excellence express their opinions on Bitcoin or blockchain. Investors look for confirmation of their expectations or a reason for caution in these comments.
In this article, the BeInCrypto editorial team collected the opinions of people with exceptional IQ scores on cryptocurrency. Here's what the brightest minds have to say about digital assets.
Kim Yong-hun, IQ 276 (disputed)
South Korean intellectual Kim Yong-hoon calls himself the smartest person on the planet. According to some estimates, he holds the world record for IQ: 276. Psychologists consider such a figure statistically impossible, but it is precisely this reputation that has helped him attract attention to his statements.
At the end of September 2025, he announced on X that he had converted his entire fortune into the first cryptocurrency. He explained his decision by saying that he saw it as the only hope for the future of the economy.
At the time of his statement, the BTC price was near $114,000. Kim predicted that BTC would grow at least 100-fold over the next decade. He predicted that Bitcoin should become the planet's ultimate reserve asset.
Warren Buffett, IQ around 155-160
The “Oracle of Omaha,” Warren Buffett, has never published his intelligence test results, but biographers and the business press often attribute his IQ to a range of 155–160. The investor himself likes to joke about this, saying that if you have an IQ of 160, sell the extra 30 points to someone else, because it's not required for success.
He is deeply skeptical of cryptocurrencies. At the 2018 Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting, he called Bitcoin “rat poison squared,” emphasizing that he sees no investment value in it. Buffett believes that common sense and character are more important for financial success than the search for returns in new speculative assets.
Despite criticism of cryptocurrencies, Buffett himself has invested in Bitcoin through Nubank.
Bill Gates, IQ about 160
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is known as one of the most intelligent entrepreneurs, with an IQ of 160. Unlike Buffett, he acknowledges the potential of blockchain technology, but remains critical of cryptocurrencies themselves. In June 2022, Gates stated that Bitcoin and NFTs are based solely on the “greater fool theory”: the value of these assets is determined solely by the expectation that they will be bought at a higher price. In his view, they lack fundamental value that long-term investors can rely on.
The views of prominent thinkers on cryptocurrencies
Nobel Prize-winning economist Eugene Fama, a professor at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, expressed skepticism about Bitcoin in January 2025, predicting that “it will go to zero within ten years” because it no longer functions sustainably as a medium of exchange and a unit of account. Discussing the likely outcome, Fama added that even if it crashes, investors will still run to the government for bailouts. “Bitcoin is going to zero,” he said, discussing the cryptocurrency's volatility and lack of sustainable use.
Robert Shiller, a Nobel laureate in economics and professor at Yale University, called Bitcoin “the best example of a speculative bubble to date” in an interview with Yale Insights. He emphasized that such “speculative epidemics” tend to return in waves.
Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank, in a January 2021 interview at the Reuters Next conference, called for strict regulation of cryptocurrency and described Bitcoin as a “highly speculative asset” that has been implicated in money laundering.
Yanis Varoufakis, an economist and former Greek finance minister, emphasized the difference between Bitcoin and its underlying technology in an interview with Wired: “BTC is the perfect bubble.” He called blockchain technology “an extraordinary solution” with the potential to promote transparency and combat corruption.
Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, said in January 2021, “I think Bitcoin is a damn brilliant invention.” He views the cryptocurrency as an alternative to gold amid the devaluation of fiat currencies. However, he warned, “Bitcoin's biggest risk is its success,” because governments could react harshly.
Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England, warned private investors in May 2021 that crypto assets have “no intrinsic value,” so they should only be bought “if you're prepared to lose all your money.” He emphasized the speculative nature of the market.
Source: cryptonews.net
