Peter Schiff: “Buying Bitcoin Is Gambling, Not Investing”

Buying Bitcoin is gambling and not investing, argues Euro Pacific Capital chief executive Peter Schiff as Tesla is withdrawing from Bitcoin to seek greener alternatives. 

Is Bitcoin Gambling? Peter Schiff Thinks So

A currency that is easily influenced by a single tweet cannot be an investment or real money, argues Euro Pacific Capital CEO Peter Schiff, who shared his thoughts on social media in the wake of Bitcoin’s latest price crash that saw the currency drop to $44,200. 

Schiff attributed the crash to a recent Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweet, which suggested that the company may soon opt out of its $1.5 billion investment it placed earlier in 2021 and explore cryptocurrencies that have a much smaller environmental impact.

Musk has been criticized for accepting and supporting Bitcoin amid growing concerns about the environmental impact of the currency, and the entrepreneur may finally be leaving his Bitcoin holdings behind and exploring a greener alternative instead.

If a single @elonmusk tweet can have so much influence over the price of #Bitcoin how can anyone seriously consider it to be money? How can Bitcoin be a safe-haven asset if a one-word tweet puts it at risk? It should be clear by now that buying Bitcoin is gambling, not investing.

— Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) May 17, 2021

Schiff described the influence exerted by Elon Musk over the currency’s price as proof that Bitcoin cannot be a real, safe-haven currency when one man’s tweet can put it at so much risk. 

“It should be clear by now that buying Bitcoin is gambling, not investing,” Schiff tweeted tersely. His comment has caused a bit of a flurry on social media, with the tweet picked up over 3,000 times and generating 16,100 likes. 

Nevertheless his skepticism, there are investors who support both Bitcoin and Dogecoin, though, and not least Mark Cuban, who believes in the currencies’ long-term prospects. 

Tesla Most Likely Dropping Bitcoin Now

Tesla’s relationship with Bitcoin may be coming to an end as the company is looking to explore less environmentally impactful alternatives, an issue that has been debated with some intensity.

Regardless, Tesla’s entire company is built on a platform that is committed to “saving the planet” from pollution, global warming, and the concomitant terrors of environmental pollution, and evidence that Bitcoin may not be entirely good for the planet has prompted the car manufacturer to stop accepting BTC as a viable payment for its vehicles.

Elon Musk’s companies have switched to Dogecoin, it seems, as SpaceX accepted payment in $DOGE to launch the DOGE-1 payload mission to the Moon in early 2022. While Musk has not engaged directly with Schiff, Twitter users have objected to the general surmise and argued that Bitcoin was experiencing price correction.

Regardless, Musk has had a tangible impact on currencies in the past, as evidenced by the rally around Dogecoin he has been able to drive over the past months. Doge has gone from trading at under one US cent to $0.50 as of the time of reporting.

Others objected that anyone with the clout that Musk has would be able to influence pretty much anything, whether that is stock or cryptocurrencies. Musk himself has never been an outright proponent of cryptocurrency investment, and he even said that investing your life savings into digital assets is probably not wise.

Any “endorsement” Musk has expressed for Dogecoin has been coached in jocose terms such as “Who let the $DOGE out?” and “D is for $DOGE.”