Once a fervent and laser-eyed Bitcoin (BTC) bull, Spencer Schiff – son of crypto critic and gold bug Peter Schiff – is now in agreement with his father that Bitcoin’s price is headed to zero.
His reasoning, however, greatly differs from his father’s, who he believes is “completely wrong about the economy.”
No Longer A Bitcoin Believer?
Spencer Schiff voiced his new take on Bitcoin in response to ZeroHedge on Twitter, who published a blog post predicting an incoming “Great Depression.”
The former strongly disagreed, claiming that the economy was about to enter “an unfathomably enormous economic boom,” that would greatly bolster the average American’s standard of living. Yet in his view, this boom will not relate to Bitcoin:
“I don’t think Bitcoin will have a major impact on the world, and its price will probably fall to near zero over the next few years,” he predicted on Tuesday. “My thesis is an AI thesis.”
My changing views have nothing to do with the bear market. I was still mega bullish on bitcoin on the day it bottomed late last year. I even convinced my mom to buy some right at the bottom. The only reason I don’t care about bitcoin anymore is AI. If not for AI, I would still…
— Spencer Schiff (@SpencerKSchiff) July 19, 2023
Spencer Schiff has for years opined that Bitcoin is an excellent long-term investment and inflation hedge. In March 2021, his father claimed that he went “all in” on Bitcoin shortly after Bitcoin’s price dropped below $50,000.
Though Bitcoin’s price has fluctuated far lower since that time, he said as recently as April 2023 that Bitcoin was “likely to demonetize gold” in the long term. Both assets are often compared as inflation hedges due to their limited supply relative to fiat currencies.
While Schiff once believed that irresponsible monetary policy would soon lead to hyperinflation of the US dollar, he now asserts that productivity gains from artificial intelligence will trigger exponential growth in productivity that solves any societal problems related to inflation.
“No matter how much they print, prices will still collapse,” he said. “Central banks don’t matter anymore. Annual economic output is about to increase 1,000x from 2023’s output. Maybe 1,000,000x higher by 2040.”
Not Like His Father
In a reply to CryptoPotato, Spencer Schiff clarified that while he now believes his father’s long-term price forecast for Bitcoin is correct, it is “only by accident”:
“My dad’s anti-bitcoin arguments are really bad and don’t even make sense,” he said. “He’s completely wrong about the economy and I strongly discourage people from following his investment advice.”
Peter Schiff has blasted Bitcoin investors for over a decade for thinking the asset can be effective money, arguing that it lacks “intrinsic value.” By contrast, his son still believes Bitcoin is superior money compared to the dollar, but that its benefits will be “trivial” thanks to AI’s seismic increases in global productivity.
In April, Peter Schiff applauded the AI bot ChatGPT for seemingly recommending gold as an investment over Bitcoin. Nevertheless, he still claimed AI is a “passing fad” on Wednesday, and that much of its young fan base will outgrow the technology – as with Bitcoin.
My son @SpencerKSchiff is no longer bullish on #Bitcoin. As young people typically do, he's lost interest in a passing fad and moved on to something new. In this case it's #AI that's captivated his attention. As Bitcoin's young fan base matures many more will grow out of Bitcoin.
— Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) July 19, 2023
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