Economist Peter Schiff, a well-known Bitcoin (BTC) critic and advocate for gold, has gained popularity for his skepticism regarding the maiden cryptocurrency, asserting that it is destined for a collapse.
Amid his public criticism, Schiff once acknowledged owning Bitcoin, but he no longer has access to it. Notably, in an X (formerly Twitter) post on January 19, 2020, Schiff noted that he unfortunately lost access to his last holding of Bitcoin, attributing it to a corrupted wallet.
Although he did not disclose the amount of BTC in the inaccessible wallet, Schiff emphasized that ‘owning Bitcoin was a bad idea.’
“I just lost all the Bitcoin I have ever owned. My wallet got corrupted somehow and my password is no longer valid. So now not only is my Bitcoin intrinsically worthless; it has no market value either. I knew owning Bitcoin was a bad idea, I just never realized it was this bad!”
Schiff’s Bitcoin gains
Despite the apparent misfortune, Schiff might unexpectedly find himself benefiting from the significant surge in Bitcoin’s value over the past few years.
At the time of Schiff’s post, Bitcoin was trading at $8,706. Fast forward to January 19, 2024, and Bitcoin’s value has skyrocketed to $40,990, representing a remarkable 370% growth.
It’s worth noting that over the last four years, Bitcoin has experienced significant volatility. Most importantly, the crypto surged to a new all-time high of almost $69,000 during this period. By the time of the record high in November 2021, the value of Schiff’s Bitcoin could have surged by almost 700%.
Considering the economist’s harsh criticism of Bitcoin, it would be ironic for him to benefit from the digital asset’s meteoric rise.
Continued Bitcoin criticism
In the meantime, Schiff continues to dismiss the potential of Bitcoin, recently noting that despite the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) approval of a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), the agency, under the leadership of Chair Gary Gensler, will likely impose new regulations that could impact the asset.
“Since Gary Gensler was backed into a corner on spot bitcoin ETF approval, I think he will soon introduce new onerous crypto regulations that will substantially increase the cost of Bitcoin transactions, further undermining its ‘use’ case, resulting in a sharp decline in price,” he said.
He has maintained that Bitcoin is “a digital pyramid scheme” while stressing that long-term investors should utilize any price gains to get out of the asset.
