Renowned economist and market commentator Peter Schiff labeled Bitcoin BTC/USD, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, as the riskiest asset on Tuesday.
What Happened: Schiff took to X to voice his concerns about the leading digital asset, stating, “There is no riskier asset than Bitcoin (not counting the 20,000 altcoins).”
Risk-off assets are investments that tend to perform well when the market sentiment is negative. Schiff’s observation implied that Bitcoin was nowhere near being a safe haven like gold, an asset he strongly advocates for.
The remark was in reaction to serial entrepreneur and Bitcoin advocate Alan Knitowski, who argued that the leading cryptocurrency would soon become “risk-off” and decoupled from the effects of fiat currencies such as the dollar.
The conversation started when Schiff brought up Japan’s benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield of 1.18%. He warned that sustained increases in yields might “wreak havoc” on global bonds and risk assets.
According to TradingView, Bitcoin’s Sharpe ratio, a measure of risk-adjusted returns, was -1.11 as of this writing, suggesting that the expected return was lower than that of a risk-free investment, such as a Treasury yield.
Interestingly, gold, which is considered a risk-free investment, had a Sharpe ratio around similar levels, around -1.07.
See Also: Ethereum Co-Founder Vitalik Buterin Offloads Nearly A Million In Memecoins To Benefit Charities — Dogecoin’s Sister Coin NEIRO Plunges 3% After Sale
Why It Matters: This isn’t the first time Schiff has expressed skepticism about Bitcoin. He has previously warned about the speculative frenzy surrounding the cryptocurrency, asserting that it could lead to significant losses for investors.
He said that he doesn’t “hate Bitcoin itself,” but was deeply concerned about the potential financial fallout from the speculative mania.
Despite his criticisms, Schiff once admitted that he would have invested in Bitcoin had he anticipated the size of the current “bubble.”
Price Action: At the time of writing, Bitcoin was exchanging hands at $96,401.25, down 5.26% in the last 24 hours, according to data from Benzinga Pro.
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