Peter Schiff, a renowned critic of Bitcoin (BTC), has hinted that gold has displaced the leading digital cryptocurrency as a store of value.
In a post shared on X, Schiff noted that geopolitical events in the Middle East have exposed the strength of different assets.
Schiff Says Middle East Conflict Exposed Real ‘Safe Haven’ Asset
According to Schiff, the recent conflict between Israel and Iran has had a ripple effect on the price of oil, gold, and Bitcoin.
He noted that following the resumed conflict, oil prices gained 5% and later climbed to 10% profit as supply fears rose.
Similarly, the price of gold recorded an uptick by as much as 1.8% as investors entertained fears of economic instability in the coming days.
Notably, gold has long been considered a traditional ‘safe haven’ and attracts capital during times of crisis as investors accumulate the asset.
Comparatively, Bitcoin did not register gains amid this development in the financial space. Rather, Bitcoin lost 2.5% of its value instead of appreciating.
The same pattern played out with the S&P futures, which fell by 1.8% as investors moved funds out of stocks.
Schiff argues that Bitcoin cannot claim the status of being a ‘safe haven’ asset given the current development exposed by the conflict in the Middle East.
He insisted that if Bitcoin were truly ‘digital gold’, it would not depreciate during global tension but rise like gold.
The vocal Bitcoin critic implies that BTC behaves like a risk asset, just like stocks, and not a safe-haven asset like gold.
Treasuries Dumped as Central Banks Pivot to Gold
Peter Schiff buttressed his stance further by highlighting developments with the U.S. Treasuries and global central banks.
He noted that there has been a great selloff of U.S. government bonds, triggering a price decline. Normally, investors consider U.S. Treasuries safe investments, particularly during market uncertainty.
However, the selloff suggests that investor confidence in these bonds has waned.
Meanwhile, gold prices are increasing, which indicates that investors are seeking safety in gold, a traditional store of value.
Schiff opines that investors have lost faith in government bonds and Bitcoin and now have a new preference for gold.
He said,
“This is one reason why global central banks have been replacing their U.S. treasuries with gold.”
The renowned critic maintained that as treasuries continue to drop and gold rises, more investors and Central Banks will follow the trend.
That is, they might sell off their treasuries and start buying more gold, which has proven to be a reliable safe haven.
Bitcoin Community Fires Back Amid Resilient Metrics
Despite Schiff’s argument, Bitcoin community members disagreed with his submissions. They insisted that Bitcoin is facing short-term corrections and would rebound higher.
According to one user, Christopher Baker, Bitcoin remains more dynamic than gold and could recover losses quickly and significantly.
Another user noted that despite the supposed depreciation in Bitcoin’s value, prices have not dropped below their levels from a week ago.
Interestingly, Bitcoin, despite the volatility, has remained 0.75% up at $105,430.19 in the last seven days of trading.
Additionally, in the last 24 hours, investors have not pulled back as trading volume has spiked by a significant 40.56% to $73.19 billion.
This indicates that market participants are not engaging in profit-taking but remain confident that Bitcoin could recover and reclaim previous levels.
