Economist and outspoken bitcoin critic Peter Schiff has stirred fresh controversy with his critique of President-elect Donald Trump’s pro-cryptocurrency plans. Schiff criticized Trump’s administration for supporting bitcoin, claiming it would weaken the U.S. economy.
Posting on social media platform X Monday, Schiff stated: “When government picks winners and losers, it usually picks losers. Thanks to the Trump administration’s picking bitcoin, Wall Street is winning bigly misallocating capital to bitcoin and related value-destroying businesses.” The gold advocate warned:
Becoming the bitcoin superpower makes America weaker.
His comments prompted backlash from the crypto community, with digital asset manager Eric Weiss responding: “I think we all know who the loser is.” Neil Jacobs dismissed Schiff’s remarks, calling them “One of your dumbest posts ever.”
Trump has pledged to establish the U.S. as a global leader in cryptocurrency, advocating for bitcoin to become a national reserve. His views align with those of U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), a prominent bitcoin supporter who introduced the Bitcoin Act. This proposed legislation seeks to integrate bitcoin into the nation’s financial system and has garnered support from notable advocates, including Microstrategy executive chairman, Michael Saylor.
Schiff has consistently criticized bitcoin, as well as Saylor’s strategy of using Microstrategy’s capital to amass BTC. He recently called the strategy a “Ponzi scheme,” asserting that Microstrategy could collapse if forced to sell its bitcoin holdings. Responding to Senator Lummis’ suggestion that the Federal Reserve sell its gold reserves to acquire bitcoin, Schiff remarked:
If the U.S. makes the huge mistake of selling its gold to buy bitcoin, you want to buy gold and if you have any bitcoin, sell it to the U.S. government.
These heated exchanges highlight the growing divide over cryptocurrency’s role in the future of the U.S. economy.
