Peter Schiff: ‘US Govt Won’t Be’ Buying Bitcoin: Is That True?

Before winning the 2024 presidential election in a landmark victory for the cryptocurrency sector, former president Donald Trump promised to establish a national Bitcoin reserve.

As a result, crypto markets have been making big bets on Bitcoin’s price increasing throughout 2025.

But Trump hasn’t yet committed the federal government to making any new Bitcoin purchases. His more modest plan is to simply freeze the Bitcoin the government has already seized from those like Ross Ulbricht, who broke the law.

So does that mean Schiff is right, and the government won’t be buying Bitcoin, even with Trump in charge?

That’s not necessarily so. Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) has a more radical proposal for the government in Washington to purchase one million BTC over five years.

Accordingly, unless Schiff knows something that markets don’t yet, it is entirely possible that the pro-crypto Republican Congress and White House could send the government on a BTC buying spree in Trump’s second term.

Peter Schiff: Govt Won’t Be Buying Bitcoin

Once it becomes obvious that the U.S. Govt. won’t be buying #Bitcoin, those who bought hoping to front-run that buying will sell. @saylor will be forced to accelerate his leveraged Bitcoin purchases to prevent a crash. But this will only delay the crash until $MSTR crashes first.

— Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) January 8, 2025

After MicroStrategy announced its most recent monster purchase of Bitcoin—1,070 BTC for $101 million—the asset’s price surged within an hour.

“But this will only delay the crash until $MSTR crashes first,” Schiff added.

Lifelong Goldbug ‘Hates’ BTC ‘Speculative Mania’

It’s not that I hate Bitcoin itself. I hate the speculative mania in Bitcoin that has caused a huge misallocation of capital, which will cause millions to lose sums far greater than they can afford, and which will tarnish the image of sound money and libertarian principals.

— Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) January 8, 2025

In reply to a commenter who asked, “Why do you hate Bitcoin so much, Peter?” the global hedge fund capitalist answered, “It’s not that I hate Bitcoin itself. I hate the speculative mania in Bitcoin that has caused a huge misallocation of capital.”

It’s true that there are winners and losers in the volatile cryptocurrency exchange markets and that there are frequently BTC bubbles with steep corrections. But it’s not necessarily a flaw inherent to Bitcoin or to the cryptocurrency’s most vocal supporters.

Crypto markets aren’t really different from stocks in this regard. They’re just more extreme because of the liquidity and velocity of these 24-hour-a-day markets, managed by automated Internet trading platforms and open to anyone around the world to participate.

Of course, Schiff would be sure to add that he doesn’t like that about stock markets either.