During the debate, Schiff stated that “in reality, Bitcoin and gold have absolutely nothing in common,” claiming that gold has value owing to its metallic characteristics, whereas Bitcoin is nothing more than a “giant pump and dump.”
Peter Schiff, a proponent of gold and a crypto skeptic, has been declared the winner of a discussion over whether gold is a better store of value than Bitcoin.
In a debate presented by Intelligence Squared on August 25, Schiff was pitted against Anthony Scaramucci, the founder of Skybridge and a former politician.
A poll conducted prior to the start of the gold vs. Bitcoin discussion found that 38% of the internet audience supported gold, 26% supported Bitcoin, and 35% were undecided. By the conclusion, Schiff had managed to sway a considerable proportion in favor of gold, with final figures of 51 percent for gold, 32 percent for BTC, and 17 percent uncertain.
Scaramucci began by claiming that the value of Bitcoin is derived from its network, which allows for peer-to-peer transactions without the use of a third party. He also claimed that BTC has a competitive advantage over gold due to its scarcity and digital properties:
“I think this cryptocurrency revolution and Bitcoin specifically, because of its scarcity, is going to transcend gold. It’s more portable, it’s impregnable in terms of the transaction over the blockchain […] and it’s being adopted quite rapidly.”
“A result of which the prices are going to go a lot higher,” he added.
When asked for his reaction, Schiff stated that “in reality, Bitcoin and gold have absolutely nothing in common.” He noted that while Bitcoin is sold in the same way as gold, it lacks any of the “metallic properties” that provide gold with its value.
“An element of the marketing fraud is the attempt to portray Bitcoin as gold, gold 2.0, or digital gold,” says the author. I mean, Bitcoin itself is always shown as a coin, with the color gold and the letter “B” emblazoned on it. “However, it is not a coin; it is simply a digital string of numbers that has no substance,” he explained.
A distinction should be made between “price and value,” with gold’s value being established by real-world use cases, but bitcoin does not have any concrete backing in the actual world:
“In 100 years, in a 1,000 years, the gold that I’m storing today can be melted down and used in electronics or used in jewelry, or for whatever new uses have been invented that don’t even exist today.”
While participating in the debate, the crypto skeptic described bitcoin as a “Ponzi scheme,” a “giant pump and dump” operation, and “tulip mania.” Schiff is also unconcerned about the asset’s rising value because he feels that late adopters of bitcoin are being gradually displaced by whales who got in at the beginning of the bear market.
Here is the Intelligence Squared #Bitcoin vs. #Gold debate I did with @Scaramucci. Since you Bitcoin pumpers forgot to rig the vote this time I was actually able to win this one. Check it out and judge for yourself. https://t.co/Q2UuZmevAx
— Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) August 26, 2021“In my mind it is a giant pump and dump, where the guys that got in relatively early […] are constantly trying to pump up the market in order to generate a lot of enthusiasm and momentum and FOMO so that they can sell out gradually into this market that they are creating,” he said.
Scaramucci maintained that the value of bitcoin is related to its global network, and that digitalization will be the next stage of mankind, as “software is eating the world,” according to Scaramucci.
Schiff stated that he would only change his mind if bitcoin was backed by gold and was truly used as a currency, rather than being used exclusively for trading purposes.
While celebrating his victory, Schiff made light of BTC proponent and MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor, jokingly stating,
“I just gotta say one thing. Michael Saylor stop ducking me, I know you’re out there.”
