It’s no secret that gold-bug Peter Schiff loathes Bitcoin. But, to his credit, he still ponders the arguments and is active in debating the issue.
In his latest discussion with Anthony Pompliano, Schiff reveals what it would take for him to bite the bullet and invest in Bitcoin finally.
Bitcoin as real, usable money over the dollar
In terms of changing his mind about Bitcoin, Schiff said the biggest factor in making that happen would be Bitcoin being used successfully as a medium of exchange.
“What would have to happen is that Bitcoin would actually have to succeed as money.”
While some say El Salvador’s dual currency system is an example of this, Schiff shuts down the suggestion on the grounds that Bitcoin is not integrated to the same extent as the dollar.
What does he mean by this? Simply put, the current convention sees the dollar as the base, with Bitcoin as the variable. So even if El Salvadorians are paying with Bitcoin, what they pay is at the dollar price converted.
For Schiff to change his mind, he must first see pricing in Bitcoin, and for $BTC to act as the fixed base with the dollar as the variable. In other words, Bitcoin must be dominant over the dollar in everyday settings of exchange.
“If I actually saw El Salvador function, let’s say for, a, I don’t know a long period of time, but where everything was priced in Bitcoin, forget dollars. You got a salary, it was expressed in Bitcoin, you rented an apartment, your rent was in Bitcoin…”
Pompliano invites Schiff to dinner
On year-end price predictions for Bitcoin, the idea of hitting $100,000 is being floated around. For example, Michael Gronager, the CEO of data analysis firm Chainalysis, came out recently with this call.
Unsurprisingly, Schiff thinks $BTC will be closer to $30,000 by the year-end. He raised the point that on September 7, the day the Bitcoin law passed in El Salvador, the leading crypto suffered a 20% drop to the downside, demonstrating technical weakness.
Nonetheless, in keeping the discussion jovial, Pompliano said he’d treat Schiff to dinner if $BTC breaks $100,000 this year. If that doesn’t happen, he said he’ll “buy a load of gold.”
“If Bitcoin breaks $100,000 this year, you have to fly to Miami in that shirt, that exact shirt I want you to wear, and I’ll take you to dinner. If Bitcoin doesn’t break $100k by the end of the year, I’ll buy a load of gold.”
In the spirit of the dialogue, Schiff joined in with the banter. However, he still didn’t commit to the bet.
