Prominent Bitcoin critic and chief economist at Europac, Peter Schiff, has once again questioned the legitimacy of Bitcoin’s meteoric rise.
On Dec. 4, Bitcoin soared past $103,000 for the first time, pushing its market capitalization to $2 trillion. Schiff dismissed the rally, attributing it to government intervention rather than organic market forces.
“Without expected government intervention, this milestone never would have been hit,” Schiff tweeted . “What couldn’t be done in a free market was achieved through the cohesive power of the state.”
Schiff also accused Bitcoin advocates of “buying off politicians” and “getting in bed with government” to secure favorable policies.
Bitcoin broke its tight trading range of $90,000 to $99,000, reaching an all-time high of $103,000. The rally comes amid nomination of Paul Atkins as SEC Chair on Dec. 4 and expectations for a friendlier regulatory environment under the new administration.
Crypto Community Fires Back
Schiff’s criticism was met with widespread rebuttals from the crypto community.
Vijay Boyapati, author of The Bullish Case for Bitcoin , counters Schiff’s claims.
“Umm, Peter, the US government owns way more gold and spends way more time propping it up than Bitcoin,” Boyapati said . “If the US government sold its gold, gold would crater. Bitcoin is the only true free market on earth.”
Crypto influencer and entrepreneur Dave Weisberger added his voice to the mix.
“Bitcoin just survived four years of a dedicated government effort to debank or delegitimize ALL businesses involved with it,” he countered Schiff’s claims.
Metrics JP, a popular Bitcoin analyst, dismissed Schiff’s remarks, saying , “You have to be trolling. Potential government scrutiny is the reason it took so long to reach $100K. It’s already at $103K now, by the way.”
Even Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao “CZ” joined the fray, replying to an earlier Schiff tweet predicting Bitcoin would never hit $100K. “Don’t dream. Keep building!” CZ tweeted .
Crypto Community Celebrates
While Schiff criticized Bitcoin’s rally, the rest of the crypto industry celebrated what many are calling a historic moment.
Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, celebrated Bitcoin’s milestone.
“Happy Bitcoin $100K Day,” Armstrong wrote on X. “If you bought $100 of Bitcoin when Coinbase was founded in June 2012, it would now be worth about $1.5 million. Bitcoin is the best-performing asset of the last 12 years, and it’s still early days.”
Cameron Winklevoss, co-founder of Gemini, echoed the sentiment. “Bitcoin breaking $100K is one of those moments that people will remember for the rest of their lives.”
Sumit Gupta, co-founder of CoinDCX cryptocurrency exchange called Bitcoin’s $100K breakthrough a “historic moment for the global crypto industry.”
Gupta added, “It’s incredible to see how far we’ve come—from Satoshi Nakamoto’s vision in the Bitcoin whitepaper to today, where Bitcoin has become a significant player in the global financial ecosystem.”
The market’s sentiment has been overwhelmingly bullish , with the Crypto Fear & Greed Index reaching “Extreme Greed” levels at 84. The index ranges from 1 ("Extreme Fear") to 100 ("Extreme Greed"), reflecting the market's emotional state and sentiment.
