Bitcoin critic Peter Schiff admits blockchain superior to physical metal

Peter Schiff, one of cryptocurrency’s most vocal critics, revealed that he’s launching a tokenized gold product that utilizes blockchain technology—the same infrastructure powering Bitcoin—while maintaining his skepticism about crypto’s flagship asset during a debate with Binance founder CZ on 4 December.

Schiff embraces blockchain for gold

Schiff announced T-Gold.com, a platform where users can buy physical gold and silver stored in segregated vaults, then withdraw their holdings as blockchain tokens. 

He acknowledged that tokenization makes gold “more transportable, more divisible, more fungible” and improves “all of its monetary properties.”

“You’ve taken gold and you’ve now made it more transportable, more divisible, more funible,” Schiff said. 

“You’ve improved on all of its monetary properties, but you don’t lose the most important property, which is it’s a store of value because it’s its value is the gold uh that the token represents.”

CZ immediately seized on the admission. “What I’m hearing is saying is actually the tokenized gold is actually almost better than the gold itself in in the ways that it’s divisible, it’s transferable, transportable, it’s a medium of exchange,” he said.

Schiff confirmed: “As for money purposes, yes.”

The case against Bitcoin

Despite embracing blockchain technology, Schiff maintained his position that Bitcoin lacks intrinsic value. 

He argued Bitcoin has fallen 40% against gold since its 2021 peak, claiming that when Bitcoin hit $69,000 four years ago, “it bought 37.2 ounces of gold. Today, and I just checked before, it buys 22.15 ounces.”

“What makes Bitcoin worthless, as far as I’m concerned, is not the fact that I can’t touch it or taste it or smell it,” Schiff said. “It’s that you don’t you can’t do anything with it.”

He contrasted this with gold’s industrial uses and its demand by central banks. “There are industries that need gold. They must buy gold. They can’t substitute copper or another metal. There are things that only gold can do.”

CZ’s defense: Utility beyond speculation

CZ countered with real-world usage examples, including a user from Africa who reduced bill payment time from three days to three minutes using crypto, accumulating $1,000 in savings. He also displayed a Binance Visa card used by millions for crypto payments.

Schiff dismissed this as merely converting Bitcoin to fiat currency rather than true Bitcoin payments. “You’re selling Bitcoin to get money and then you’re using the money to buy goods and services, not the Bitcoin,” he argued.

The debate concluded with Schiff requesting that Binance list his tokenized gold token.

Final Thoughts

• Bitcoin’s most prominent critic is launching a blockchain-based tokenized gold product, acknowledging blockchain technology improves gold’s monetary properties.
• Schiff argues Bitcoin is down 40% versus gold since 2021, despite massive institutional adoption and ETF inflows.