Peter Schiff says ‘Gold is eating Bitcoin’s lunch’ — but is he right?

Key Takeaways

Is Peter Schiff right about gold dominating Bitcoin?

Partly. Gold has outperformed Bitcoin by roughly 25-27% since August, but BTC is still up 17% year-to-date.

What’s driving the divergence?

Gold’s rally reflects safe-haven demand amid geopolitical tensions, while Bitcoin’s correction stemmed from $9 billion in leveraged liquidations — not fundamental weakness.

Gold’s latest surge to a new all-time high and Bitcoin’s sharp pullback have reignited the old debate.

The latest development has led economist and long-time Bitcoin critic Peter Schiff to double down on his criticism of BTC.

Schiff calls a Bitcoin bear market

On 16 October, Schiff declared on X that “Gold is eating Bitcoin’s lunch”, claiming that Bitcoin is “down 32% priced in gold since its August high.”

The comment comes as gold rose to a new high of almost $4,300. 

Source: X

He warned that the ongoing Bitcoin bear market would be “brutal,” urging investors to “sell your fool’s gold and buy the real thing.”

The comments quickly went viral, gaining more than half a million views and dividing opinion across the crypto community. 

Schiff, who has built a reputation for his persistent skepticism of Bitcoin and advocacy for physical gold, has made similar remarks during past market corrections.

How BTC has trended since August

Data reviewed by AMBCrypto tells a more nuanced story.

According to TradingView data, Bitcoin has fallen about 14% in USD terms since early August. It dropped from above $120,000 to around $108,000 following last week’s liquidation-driven sell-off.

Source: TradingView

During the same period, gold climbed sharply, rising roughly 26% from about $3,400/oz to $4,291/oz, according to BullionVault.

Source: BullionVault

Combined, this means Bitcoin’s value relative to gold has indeed weakened, but by roughly 25–27%. The direction of Sciff’s argument holds, though the degree of decline might be overstated.

BTC/gold correlation breakdown

Historical data from Newhedge show that the correlation between Bitcoin and gold remains weak, often oscillating between positive and negative.

While gold tends to rise amid macroeconomic anxiety and falling yields, Bitcoin behaves more like a high-beta risk asset — reacting to liquidity cycles, ETF flows, and market sentiment.

Source: Newhedge

That divergence has widened since early October. Gold’s rally was fueled by geopolitical tension and expectations of slower Fed balance-sheet runoff. 

At the same time, Bitcoin’s correction followed over $9 billion in leveraged liquidations, not a fundamental collapse in demand.

Context behind the move

Bitcoin’s recent weakness came despite continued ETF inflows and resilient on-chain data.

Meanwhile, gold benefited from renewed safe-haven demand as individuals and institutions continued to diversify their reserves.

In short, gold’s rise represents a rotation into safety, not necessarily a loss of faith in Bitcoin. 

The crypto market still commands a total capitalization above $3.8 trillion, suggesting structural confidence remains intact.

The bottom line

Peter Schiff is partly right — gold has outperformed Bitcoin since August, and the ratio between the two has shifted in favor of the yellow metal.

However, describing the move as the start of a “brutal Bitcoin bear market” overlooks key context.

Bitcoin remains up over 17% year-to-date, with long-term holders largely unmoved by the volatility.

For now, gold may be winning the short-term narrative battle. However, the broader Bitcoin vs Gold debate, store of value versus digital risk, remains far from settled.