Peter Schiff, a well-known Bitcoin critic, has taken another jab at Michael Saylor, CEO of MicroStrategy and Bitcoin’s biggest cheerleader.
Schiff tweeted his prediction that the U.S. government is about to sell 69,370 Bitcoins, valued at roughly $4.3 billion.
He suggested that Saylor “borrow another $4.3 billion” and snap them up, tagging the MicroStrategy chief in the tweet to make sure he didn’t miss it.
Just yesterday, Schiff called Saylor out publicly and asked for a debate on Bitcoin vs. Gold. He hasn’t responded.
U.S.’s Bitcoin sale
On October 7, the Supreme Court ruled that the government could sell the 69,370 Bitcoins seized from the Silk Road marketplace.
The stash had been stuck in legal limbo after Battle Born Investments tried to claim it. But the courts have now shut down Battle Born’s claim, giving the government full control over the assets.
In July, it began transferring chunks of the Bitcoins. Two big transfers caught the crypto community’s attention.
10,000 Bitcoins worth around $669 million and 19,800 Bitcoins valued at $1.33 billion. These transfers were made to Coinbase, which many analysts interpreted as a preparation for a large-scale sale.
The market, as expected, has been rattled by these events. Bitcoin dropped 4.3% to around $66,552 within 24 hours of the news.
Donald Trump has said that he would put a stop to these sales if he were re-elected.
The government has been selling Bitcoins seized from criminals for years.
Just a few weeks ago, they announced that they were selling 2,900 Bitcoins, worth around $130 million, which were seized from former Secret Service agent turned criminal Shaun Bridges.
The U.S. Marshals Service, responsible for overseeing the sale of seized assets, has teamed up with Coinbase to manage the crypto holdings.
This partnership has caused some major concerns, with some analysts speculating that the Bitcoins could be sold on the open market soon.
Saylor’s unwavering Bitcoin strategy
Meanwhile, Saylor is still doubling down on his bet. As of press time, MicroStrategy holds 252,220 Bitcoins. These were bought at an average price of $39,266 per Bitcoin, which totals to $9.9 billion.
With Bitcoin trading around $60,000, Saylor’s stash is worth approximately $15 billion, leaving him with an unrealized profit of about $5.1 billion.
Saylor’s latest purchase took place on September 19 when MicroStrategy added 7,420 more Bitcoins to its vault. This cost them $458 million, pushing their total Bitcoin holdings to the current figure.
The company financed it through a recent offering of 0.625% convertible senior notes, raising over $1 billion to fund more Bitcoin buys.
MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin play has been paying off. The company reported a quarter-to-date yield of 5.1% and a year-to-date yield of 17.8%, with their crypto investments outperforming traditional assets.
The company’s stock (MSTR) is also doing incredibly well.
