Bitcoin is Gold’s ‘Digital Imitation’ Says a Bit-Curious Peter Schiff

Veteran gold bug Peter Schiff will debate the precious metal’s utility against Bitcoin (BTC) in a dedicated event with Anthony Pompliano, the latter confirmed on Twitter July 10.

Pompliano, the co-founder and partner at Morgan Creek Digital known in the industry as Pomp, said he hoped to convince Schiff that Bitcoin was a worthwhile investment.

“Peter should get a lot of credit for agreeing to this. Hopefully he walks away a Bitcoin believer,” he wrote announcing the debate, which will occur at an unspecified date on CNBC.

Schiff, well known as a Bitcoin skeptic, has made various public appearances in which he defended gold as a superior asset. Particularly notorious was a debate with The Bitcoin Standard author, Saifedean Ammous, which aired in May. 

This week, Pomp triggered an unexpected round of charity aimed at Schiff, which appeared to trigger the formal meeting. 

After sending him a token amount of Bitcoin, other Twitter users followed suit. To date, Schiff’s wallet received 109 transactions totalling 0.208 BTC ($2,400).

In the meantime, however, he remains firmly behind gold’s future prospects. 

“As today’s action shows a rally in gold does not mean Bitcoin will rally too,” he tweeted as BTC/USD slid 10%. “In fact, one of the main reasons for Bitcoin’s prior gains was gold’s failure to rally. But if gold has finally broken out, there is no longer a reason for investors to settle for a digital imitation!”

Earlier this month, another debate pitted serial Bitcoin naysayer Nouriel Roubini against Arthur Hayes, CEO of derivatives giant BitMEX.