Influential economist Peter Schiff questioned Bitcoin’s (CRYPTO: BTC) repeated comparisons to gold on Monday, deeming the apex cryptocurrency “anti-gold” rather than “digital gold.”
What Happened: In his YouTube podcast, Schiff stated that Bitcoin behaves nothing like gold, and is, in fact, more akin to “digital risk” than “digital gold.”
“I mean, if it’s digital gold, it should have something in common with gold. It should trade similarly to Gold. It should have some kind of positive correlation. It doesn’t have any,” Schiff emphasized. “It’s the opposite. It’s anti-gold. So why do we need a strategic reserve of it?”
Schiff even compared Bitcoin with penny stocks, the high-risk equities known for their speculative nature. “If we don’t have a reserve of penny stocks, then why should we have a reserve of Bitcoin?” he asked.
Schiff’s comments come in the wake of Bitcoin’s recent market behavior, which has been contradictory to its narrative as an inflation hedge. The leading digital asset has plunged over 23% from its January highs and more than 11% year-to-date.
In contrast, gold has surged over 19% since 2025 began, reflecting its stability in a period of uncertainty fueled by President Donald Trump’s tariff policies.
In fact, Bitcoin was negatively correlated with gold as of this writing, according to The Block, meaning that if one rises, the other drops, and vice versa.
Bitwise’s Chief Investment Officer, Matt Hougan, explained that Bitcoin’s short-term price dips during economic turbulence are due to increased market uncertainty.
Why It Matters: Bitcoin’s dip amid the ongoing economic turbulence has been a subject of great discussion.
Schiff’s criticism of Bitcoin is not new. He has previously warned that the strategic Bitcoin reserve is a tool to trick Americans into speculative losses and that it exists solely to “scam” more people into buying cryptocurrency.
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