The long-running debate between digital gold and physical gold has reignited.
Outspoken Bitcoin critic and gold advocate Peter Schiff has once again made waves — this time arguing that tokenized gold, not Bitcoin, represents the true future of sound money on the blockchain.
Schiff: Tokenized Gold Can Do What Bitcoin Can’t
In a recent interview, Schiff claimed that gold-backed tokens could fulfill all three classical functions of money — medium of exchange, unit of account, and store of value — roles he says Bitcoin has “promised but failed to deliver.”
“Gold has intrinsic value, and putting it on the blockchain doesn’t change that — it enhances it,” Schiff asserted. “Bitcoin is purely speculative. Tokenized gold can actually work as money.”
His comments came less than 48 hours after spot gold prices abruptly plunged 8%, marking the metal’s sharpest single-day drop since 2013 and wiping out more than $2.4 trillion in market value. The move ended a three-week rally during which gold had risen more than 12% amid global economic uncertainty.
The correction also coincided with a double-digit slide in Bitcoin, reigniting the perennial question: Which asset is the true safe haven — gold or crypto?
Schiff Teases His Own Gold Token Project
Despite gold’s volatility, Schiff doubled down on his conviction, revealing plans to launch his own gold-backed token under the Schiff Gold brand.
“I’ll probably release my own token at some point,” he said. “We’re building a platform under Schiff Gold right now where people can buy and hold physical gold.”
According to Schiff, the token would be fully backed by vaulted gold, with holders able to redeem their digital assets for physical metal on demand.
“I see it as the best of both worlds,” he added. “The stability of gold with the efficiency of blockchain.”
Critics Push Back — “It’s Still a Token of Trust”
The announcement sparked immediate reaction — and skepticism — from across the crypto community.
Changpeng Zhao (CZ), founder and former CEO of Binance, dismissed Schiff’s plan as old news, reminding followers that similar gold-backed projects have struggled to gain traction.
“Tokenizing gold isn’t the same as putting gold on-chain,” CZ wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “It’s tokenizing trust — the belief that some third party will hand you the gold someday, maybe decades later, through regime changes or even wars. It’s still a ‘trust me’ token.”
Schiff Defends Custodial Trust
Schiff pushed back, defending the age-old practice of gold custody and the reliability of established vaulting systems.
“People have trusted third parties to store their gold for centuries,” he countered. “Brinks has held gold for over 160 years and has never lost an ounce. Tokenized gold works on the same principle as stablecoins — are you against that entire model too?”
Digital Gold vs. Blockchain Gold
Schiff’s renewed attack on Bitcoin — and his embrace of tokenized metal — underscore a broader divide in financial philosophy.
Where Bitcoiners champion decentralization and self-custody, Schiff and traditionalists argue that tangible collateral remains the only true basis for monetary trust.
As tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) gain institutional interest, his idea may not be as far-fetched as it once seemed. Yet for many in the crypto space, the irony remains:
Even on-chain, Peter Schiff still can’t escape the very system of centralized trust that Bitcoin was built to replace.
