3 - 5 minute read
On Christmas Day, economist Peter Schiff took to Twitter to share his latest attack on bitcoin with his followers. In a series of tweets, Schiff once again bashed the cryptocurrency, claiming it holds no intrinsic value and advising investors to sell their holdings.
“My Christmas gift to #Bitcoin investors is a chart showing that the support level that Bitcoin has been bouncing off of for the past 6 months has now turned into resistance,” Schiff tweeted, along with a chart that he claims supports his argument. “This means that Bitcoin is much closer to its ceiling than it is to its floor. There is little potential for a recovery. Sell while you can. It’s the smart move.”
My #Christmas gift to #HODLers is this #Bitcoin chart. As you can see Bitcoin is much closer to its ceiling than its floor. The yellow line that was once support is now resistance. Since the upside potential is so low and downside risk so high, the smart move is to sell today. pic.twitter.com/lPOLABGEQQ
β Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) December 25, 2022
As usual, Schiff’s tweets were met with a mix of agreement and disagreement from other users. Some bitcoin supporters pointed out that Schiff has a history of making inaccurate predictions about the cryptocurrency, with one user sharing a screenshot of a tweet from 2018 in which Schiff warned against buying bitcoin at $3,800. In the years since, bitcoin has reached an all-time high of $69,000, more than 15 times the price Schiff cautioned against.
In addition to his call to sell bitcoin, Schiff also took the opportunity to criticize the push for cryptocurrency regulation. “Many claim government needs to regulate #crypto so people can be confident that their money will be safe. There’s nothing government can do to make investing in crypto safe,” he tweeted. “The only safe thing you can do with crypto is sell it. But that just transfers your loss to someone else.”
Look at Peter, giving out the Christmas presents!
β Mr. Anderson (@TrueCrypto28) December 25, 2022
The greatest gift of all has always been a @PeterSchiff fade!
Is this youπππππ pic.twitter.com/LMcpKHhk6D
This view was echoed by economist Stephen Cecchetti, who argued that legitimizing crypto with regulations could have negative effects on the financial system. However, the deputy governor of the Bank of England, Sir Jon Cunliffe, recently stated that the collapse of FTX demonstrates that cryptocurrency is “too dangerous” to remain unregulated. It remains to be seen how the rapidly-evolving crypto industry will be regulated in the future.