The debate was held on the Intelligence Squared platform and attracted the attention of a large number of viewers. What is most interesting, most of them, both before the dispute and after, gave their preference to gold rather than Bitcoin.
An active supporter of gold and critic of Bitcoin, Peter Schiff, took part in a debate yesterday with the founder of the Skybridge Foundation and cryptocurrency enthusiast Anthony Scaramucci.
The topic of discussion was the alleged superiority of the precious metal over the cryptocurrency in terms of preserving capital.
Which is better: gold or bitcoin?
Before the debate began, viewers took part in an online survey about which investment they would prefer. The votes in the poll were distributed as follows:
- 38 percent voted for gold;
- 26 percent voted for BTC;
- 35 percent abstained.
The debate began with Scaramucci’s assertion that Bitcoin’s value lies in its network, which allows P2P transactions without a third party. In addition, BTC has an advantage over gold in the form of limiting the maximum supply of coins.
I think that the cryptocurrency revolution – especially Bitcoin – due to its limited supply properties, will be able to outperform gold. Bitcoin is portable, secure against attacks and is rapidly gaining popularity around the world.
Cryptocurrency is really easy to «transfer» – including across the borders of various states. However, it is important to understand that the user does not keep coins in their wallet. It simply transfers access to cryptocurrency, which is located on a secure blockchain.
Anthony Scaramucci
Recall that the maximum supply of bitcoins is really limited. We are talking about 21 million coins, which will be mined to the end by about 2140. Note that after mining the last BTC, something terrible is unlikely to happen to the network. We have analyzed this scenario in more detail in a separate article.
Here is a video of the debate itself, in which experts shared their own opinions in full detail. We recommend that you watch if you understand English by ear.
According to Scaramucci, all these factors will lead to an increase in the price of BTC in the long term, but Schiff presented his counterarguments. He stated that «Bitcoin and gold have nothing in common. «
The cryptocurrency is allegedly actively promoted as an analogy for a precious metal, but it does not have its fundamental characteristics. Here is Schiff’s quote from Cointelegraph.
The attempt to make Bitcoin an analogue of gold is part of a deceptive cryptocurrency marketing campaign – digital gold, gold 2.0. By itself, Bitcoin is called a «coin», has a yellow «B» symbol and therefore many people successfully associate with gold. But this is not a coin, it is just a series of numbers that does not have any material value under it.
We disagree with this statement. The value of Bitcoin, blockchain and cryptocurrencies in general lies in their security and inclusiveness, that is, the ability to use them for everyone. In addition, the crypt allows you to transfer value to residents of any country without the participation of intermediaries, as well as to connect to the global financial system without the approval of bankers – and this is also expensive.
Peter Schiff
Schiff stated that there is a difference between the price and the value of an asset. In his opinion, the value of gold is determined by the use of the precious metal around the world, but BTC does not have such a characteristic.
In a hundred or a thousand years, my gold can be melted down into electronic elements, jewelry or other items that will be invented by that time.
Again, BTC is used to transfer value without the substantial fees that banks typically charge. The alternative to the classical financial system makes cryptocurrency truly valuable – all over the world.
Throughout the debate, Peter never tired of reminding him that Bitcoin is «a pyramid scheme, a fraudulent scheme and a manifestation of tulip mania. » The gold advocate is not impressed by the rapid rise in the value of BTC, as he believes that all new crypto investors are simply buying up the stocks of coins that are now being massively sold on the market by old investors.
I think this is a giant pump / dump scheme, where guys who got into the industry relatively early are constantly trying to artificially inflate the market in order to create a lot of hype, popularity and a sense of lost profits for other investors. They then gradually sell off their holdings of coins into the same market they created themselves.
Recall that the rise and fall of coins, respectively, is called a pump and a dump in the world of cryptocurrencies. And in this case, Schiff means coordinated price manipulation due to a conspiracy of market participants.
According to sources, after the end of the debate, the final figures of the survey changed significantly:
- 51 percent for gold;
- 32 percent for Bitcoin;
- 17 percent abstained.
Schiff managed to convince the audience that he was right, and we cannot ignore the dominant status of gold as the main store of value in the history of mankind over the millennia. However, his arguments are still worth questioning. The precious metal proponent values assets according to the old-fashioned principle: that which has physical value and is most valuable.
But every year the world is increasingly moving into the digital plane, where Bitcoin, or other cryptocurrencies, can become the basis of new finance.
This means that it is definitely not worth writing off the cryptocurrency from the accounts just because of Peter’s remarks. In addition, the popularity of Schiff himself is supported by regular criticism of Bitcoin, so in fact he also uses digital assets for his own benefit.
