Schiff Puts Bitcoin and Strategy Under Pressure as Gold Rises
Schiff points to the rise in gold and silver as proof that capital is shifting into hard assets, while Strategy once again sold BTC to buy back shares.
Key Takeaways
- Peter Schiff is urging investors to avoid Bitcoin and Strategy shares as gold rises above $4,400 per ounce.
- Strategy sold 1,690 BTC last week for $108.6 million and used the proceeds to buy back STRC shares.
- Gold and silver are rising sharply on Chinese demand, central bank buying, and weaker U.S. jobs data.
Peter Schiff is urging investors to avoid Bitcoin and Strategy shares as gold climbs above $4,400 (€3,810) per ounce. The well-known gold bull says capital is flowing back into hard assets, while Bitcoin, in his view, is lagging the rally in precious metals.
Gold and Silver Pull Ahead
Gold traded at $4,402.43 (€3,810) per ounce early Tuesday, up 0.28 percent on the day. Over the past month, the price has risen 6.78 percent, and it is up about 29.6 percent year over year. Silver touched $65.84 (€57), its highest level in seven weeks, and is up nearly 74 percent from a year ago.
According to market moves, Chinese institutional demand and ongoing central bank buying are playing a major role. The recent gains also followed weak U.S. jobs data, which cooled expectations for further interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.
Schiff is using that contrast to repeat his long-running claim that Bitcoin is not a digital version of gold. He points out that Bitcoin does not consistently move with gold and has also shown no convincing link with tech stocks like the Nasdaq in recent months.
Strategy Sells BTC Again
The timing of his warning stands out because Strategy confirmed on Monday that it had sold Bitcoin again. The company sold 1,690 BTC last week for $108.6 million (€94 million), at an average price of $64,262 (€55,600) per coin after fees. The proceeds were used to buy back STRC shares, while the company also raised $653.1 million (€565 million) through 6.59 million common shares.
Strategy also said its dollar reserve had grown to $4.65 billion (€4 billion) on August 9. Its Bitcoin holdings fell to 840,447 BTC. Since the company’s average cost basis is around $75,385 (€65,200) per coin, last week’s sale locked in a loss.
Schiff says that is not just a normal cash management move, but a sign that financing pressure is building. Michael Saylor, meanwhile, keeps saying he has never sold his coins, even though his company continues to sell Bitcoin.
Why This Matters
For European crypto followers, this matters mainly because it shows how much the Bitcoin debate is still being driven by the broader macro backdrop. If gold and silver keep benefiting from weaker rate expectations, that could put the comparison between Bitcoin as a risk asset and Bitcoin as digital gold back in the spotlight. Strategy’s selling also remains important because the company still holds one of the largest publicly traded Bitcoin positions.
Not everyone draws the same conclusion as Schiff. Bitwise portfolio manager Gordon Grant instead points to adoption by sanctioned states as a more important test for Bitcoin as digital gold. For now, gold, silver, and Strategy are moving in parallel, while the market waits to see how much room the Fed still has and how much more cash Strategy may need to raise.
Strategy’s latest sale fits into a broader trend in which large Bitcoin treasuries are managing their balance sheets more actively. Strategy Sells 1,690 Bitcoin and Raises $653 Million covered the same capital round and shows how the company is using its BTC position to support preferred stock and dollar reserves.
