Gold bug Peter Schiff has stated that his biggest Bitcoin mistake was initially overestimating the ability of others to see why the novel asset was “fundamentally” flawed.
“The biggest mistake I made with Bitcoin when I first learned about it was overestimating the ability of others to understand why it wouldn’t work,” he said.
The same people who foolishly thought that Bitcoin would work will be foolish enough not to sell the leading cryptocurrency, Schiff argues.
A longtime bear
In a 2024 interview (with Raoul Pal of Real Vision), Schiff said that a colleague introduced him to Bitcoin in 2010, when BTC was “around a few dollars.” He explicitly admitted he “wished he’d bought some” back then.
As reported by U.Today, Schiff started dismissing Bitcoin back in 2011, claiming that it would be just a fad. Despite BTC’s price surge, the gold bug has not budged.
Schiff’s big year
2025 has been a banner year for gold bugs (especially for Bitcoin nemesis Peter Schiff).
Bitcoin has underperformed relative to gold and silver. The “store‑of‑value” narrative for Bitcoin loses punch if traditional stores (gold, silver) outperform.
Schiff recently predicted that BTC would keep underperforming against gold, potentially plunging to the $42,000 level.
“Looks like a completed head-and-shoulders pattern. It projects a Bitcoin price of 7 ounces of gold. Assuming gold is at $6K when the pattern completes, Bitcoin will be at $42K. That’s likely far from the bottom for Bitcoin, but there could be a dead-cat bounce off that level.”