Bitcoin is about 45% below its $126,000 record and is down 32% from a year ago, while holders trade barbs with Schiff in X replies.
Peter Schiff has declared Bitcoin (BTC) is in a long-term bear market after it dipped to $68,000, below where it traded in November 2021.
But he was countered by some supporters of the OG cryptocurrency, who said that comparing old peaks with later lows proves little.
A Pointed Question for 2021 BTC Buyers
In a post on X today, Schiff asked Bitcoin investors to consider how they would have reacted five years ago if someone told them the asset would eventually trade below its November 2021 price.
Recall that BTC hit a then-all-time high near $69,000 on November 10, 2021, and per data from CoinGecko at the time of writing, it was trading just a few hundred bucks above $68,000. With that in mind, the gold advocate delivered a verdict:
“Bitcoin is in a long-term bear market. The long-term trend is down.”
Initially, as CryptoPotato reported, the asset had failed to hold its recovery above $75,000 and moved down toward $73,000 even as its dominance climbed above 60.5%, which suggested that altcoins were struggling even more to keep their market value.
Then news broke of the resignation of Nvidia co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang following revelations of infidelity, in which he reportedly had affairs with several women, including a co-worker and an alleged Chinese spy, and crypto seems to have been caught in its ripples, shedding nearly 4% of its value according to CG.
BTC was among the heavy bleeders, with CG data showing a 7.0% dip in 24 hours, although the likes of XRP, ETH, and SOL were hit even worse in that time, having lost 16%, 14%, and 12%, respectively.
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The flagship cryptocurrency was also down over 9% across seven days and nearly 11% in the past two weeks, with the recent weakness also taking it more than 17% lower than where it was a month ago.
But Schiff’s assessment of the situation did not go unchallenged, with Bitcoin podcaster Stephan Livera pointing out that the asset had also traded below its 2017 all-time high in November 2022. According to him, comparing previous market peaks with subsequent lows can be misleading.
Strategy’s STRC Buyback Enters the Debate
Schiff also defended his preferred asset, noting that gold had gained more than $40 during the night. And when a follower questioned his outlook by pointing to the precious metal’s own dip from $5,600 to under $4,000, the economist predicted that it would recover above $5,600 before the end of 2027.
However, he didn’t have kind words for another pet subject of his, Michael Saylor’s Strategy. On Monday, the company announced that it had bought an additional 1,036 BTC for about $82 million as well as a $188 million repurchase of its STRC stock. The BTC critic claimed that Strategy has to keep buying STRC because the minute it stops buying, the price would collapse.
“So this great product now all of a sudden Strategy has to buy it all back because their customers don’t really want it anymore,” Schiff said of the STRC repurchase. “But imagine how much lower the price of STRC would be if Saylor hadn’t bought back over 20% of the outstanding issue.”
