Popular Gold bug and Bitcoin critic Peter Schiff has come out again to cast doubt on Bitcoin. In his usual fashion, Schiff has tried to argue that Bitcoin’s worth is questionable and also that it is not a safe haven asset. This time, Bitcoin bull and Morgan Creek Digital CEO Anthony Pompliano was dragged into the mix.
Pompliano recently spoke in an interview with CNN’s Julia Chatterley. In the conversation, he described Bitcoin as a non-correlated asset that performs independently, without being affected by other assets. Also, he said many people confuse safe-haven assets with non-correlated assets.
Schiff, who is also the CEO OF Euro Pacific Capital and Chairman of Schiff Gold, has now picked up on Pompliano’s delineation of assets as safe haven and non-correlated. In a recent tweet, Schiff suggests that since Pomp thinks non-correlated assets and safe havens are different, then describing Bitcoin as non-correlated has to mean that it is not a safe haven.
“On CNN, [Pompliano] admitted that Bitcoin isn’t a safe haven asset, but a non-correlated asset, meaning regardless of what other assets do, Bitcoin is as likely to go down as up… So the value of Bitcoin is that no one has any idea what its price will do. What’s that worth?”
In response, Pompliano seems to suggest that Schiff’s interpretation of his words is wrong. However, without trying to explain further, he quickly takes a swipe at gold, pointing out that gold’s performance is nowhere near Bitcoin’s, with 30% year-to-date gains and 150% in the past 12 months.
In his first reply, Schiff says that his interpretation is correct, calling Pompliano “confused.” In a second reply, he says that Bitcoin’s bigger returns this year “means nothing.” Defending himself, Schiff says that if their performances switch as the year goes on and gold becomes positive with Bitcoin turning negative, Pompliano still won’t change his mind about Bitcoin’s status.
“This year’s gains are irrelevant to Bitcoin’s safe haven status.”
Surprisingly, Schiff recently praised Bitcoin’s returns over the last 10 years. He explained that he doesn’t believe Bitcoin can succeed as money but never said it could not rise.
