Bitcoin’s vocal critic Peter Schiff has argued that adopting Bitcoin as a nation would weaken the US economy.
Schiff’s comments, shared on social media platform X on Monday, were a scathing criticism of Trump’s vision of making the US a world leader in cryptocurrency.
Economic Risks
In the post, Schiff suggested that because of Trump’s support for crypto, Wall Street was significantly allocating capital toward Bitcoin and associated companies.
“Becoming a Bitcoin superpower makes America weaker,” the economist claimed, in what appeared to be a jab at Trump’s iconic “Make America Great Again” slogan.
The president-elect has made no secret of his support for crypto, especially Bitcoin, and his election victory has pushed the price of the asset to new all-time highs. The anticipation of clearer regulations and the end of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) punitive stance on crypto has also encouraged more institutional players to enter the sector.
MicroStrategy has been at the forefront of this Bitcoin acquisition, having amassed over 386,000 coins valued at approximately $35 billion.
However, Schiff believes that this redirection of funds to Bitcoin is “destroying the value”. He recently predicted a “bloodbath” for MicroStrategy stock, calling it the most overvalued asset in the MSCI World Index.
Furthermore, the Echelon Wealth co-founder suggested that Bitcoin was not a store of value as many of its proponents claim, but rather that holding it was a bet on its price going up as fear fear of missing out (FOMO) pushed more people to buy. this
Blowback from the community
Schiff’s comments were met with backlash from the crypto community. One user questioned his understanding of the concept of currency premium, while another ridiculed him for spending the last 15 years criticizing BTC and urged him to “move on”.
Elsewhere, digital asset influencer Neil Jacobs dismissed his opinion as one of the “stupidest posts ever”. Other users accused Schiff of trolling or seeking compromise, with some telling him to embrace Bitcoin’s growth rather than resist it.
The 61-year-old’s latest remarks follow earlier warnings about the economic risks of the United States establishing a strategic Bitcoin reserve. He has previously argued that an initial government purchase would likely drive cryptocurrency prices to unprecedented levels, creating substantial wealth for early adopters.
According to him, this increase could prompt investors to sell their holdings, leaving the government with devalued Bitcoin reserves.
Schiff warned that to counter this effect, the government could print more money to maintain its crypto acquisitions. He believes this could lead to hyperinflation and significantly weaken the dollar.
He also expressed doubt that a BTC reserve would ever materialize, citing the coin’s inconsistent performance compared to gold, whose market cap continues to grow steadily.
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