Peter Schiff Says He Has a Bitcoin Wallet, Receives Growing Fund of BTC Donations

Updated by Daniel Phillips

Pro-gold, anti-Bitcoin crusader Peter Schiff claims to have previously been sent $100 in Bitcoin from a friend and that this is why he owns a Bitcoin wallet. He provided a wallet address on Twitter, which has now received more than $1,500 in the digital currency since the public key was posted earlier today.

As revealed by Bitcoin proponent, co-founder of Morgan Creek Capital Management, and the host of the “Off the Chain” podcast, Anthony Pompliano earlier today, the passionate anti-Bitcoiner and gold bug Peter Schiff actually owns a Bitcoin wallet.

Schiff quickly responded that he had not bought the digital currency, but had rather been gifted $100 worth of Bitcoin from a friend. This prompted ‘Pomp’ to push for the revelation of the public key associated with Schiff’s modest holdings.

The staunch cryptocurrency opponent responded with the following public address, encouraged by Pompliano’s offer to match the $100 already in there:

“1LZpj4zkgcGzGb9EuLLbwby1BPT3c1uRTy”

Interestingly, when you check this address in a blockchain explorer, the first transaction received by the wallet was this morning for 0.00222861 or a little over $20. There is no record of the $100 that Schiff’s friend supposedly sent to him. This suggests that the precious metal proponent has set up a second wallet for the purpose of receiving Pompliano’s donation.

federal reserve gold

However, it wasn’t just Pomp that seized the opportunity to increase Schiff’s holdings. Following the publishing of the public key, at least 71 transactions have been sent to the wallet. This has taken the total held in there from $0 earlier today to $1,543.58 at the time of writing.

Perhaps the rationale behind the donations is to increase Schiff’s holdings to the point where he no longer feels the need to slate Bitcoin at every opportunity. However, the stunt may, of course, backfire. Schiff might simply use the donations to further enhance his gold position. After all, his company, SchiffGold, does accept crypto asset payments for precious metals.

Alternatively, since he clearly knows how to use Bitcoin, he may, in fact, hold a much larger position in digital assets as a hedge against his own convictions about gold. What happens to the Bitcoin donations amassed so far in the wallet Schiff posted to Twitter will be a strong indication as to the multi-millionaire’s true feelings towards Bitcoin. As Pompliano says himself:

“Never listen to what they say, always watch what they do with their money!”

What do you think? Is Peter Schiff changing his tune on Bitcoin? Are donations of BTC to his wallet going to benefit cryptocurrency? We’d love to hear your thoughts below.


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