Bitcoin a ‘Fraud,’ Strategy Will Probably Go ‘Bankrupt’

The foreign equities and gold bug investor with over a billion dollars in assets under management took a big swipe at Bitcoin and Michael Saylor’s BTC-accumulating finance company, formerly named MicroStrategy.

He said Strategy will go bankrupt over Bitcoin. But if this is reverse psychology, it must be working on Saylor. His company still hasn’t stopped racing other firms for more BTC in whale-sized bites.

Peter Schiff Pulls No Punches on BTC in X Spaces Gag

To start off the program, Schiff said Bitcoin’s promoters sold it as a kind of digital gold, but it hasn’t performed like the precious metal at all, so the “marketing” was a “fraud.”

“The idea that it’s digital gold has been destroyed because it trades nothing like gold. It’s just some kind of risk asset.”

But, Bitcoin’s promoters did not say it would perform as an investment with ROIs like gold. They said it is similar in its economic properties to the metal because of its limited supply and the difficulty and cost of securing it.

While it is true that Bitcoin’s price lately has not traded like gold, that’s because over timescales very relevant to individual investors it has performed fantastically better than the yellow metal.

Bitcoin vs. Gold ROIs 2009-10 to Present

INSIGHT: Gold’s growth is strong, but Bitcoin’s massive gains can’t be ignored.

Gold just hit a new ATH of $3,310, while Bitcoin is consolidating. But when we zoom out, BTC’s epic rise far outpaces gold’s performance.

What’s your prediction? pic.twitter.com/1OkHGXltp5

— Coin Bureau (@coinbureau) April 16, 2025

Some fraud that would be to explain to a judge:

Sorry, we told the litigant that the product was like an instrument that delivered 230% ROI in 16 years since 2009, and it only delivered 2.82 billion percent since 2010.

On the X podcast, Schiff asked:

“What purpose does Bitcoin serve? We got plenty of risk assets out there. It’s a super risk asset that’s going to go up faster than other risk assets. Based on what?”

He added, “At least a tech stock- there’s the story there of future earnings that could materialize, you’re buying a business that could earn money.”

Bitcoin provides a banking service, which is traditionally a very profitable, high-growth business because everyone needs it every day in a market economy.

Moreover, Bitcoin does so in a way that is simple and fundamentally useful. It is proven to work reliably, fairly, transparently, and easily for anyone to use.

Bitcoin’s price was up 36% over the trailing 12 months in mid-April.