Veteran economist and gold advocate Peter Schiff is making waves again with his sharp critique of Bitcoin, warning that the only realistic way for BTC bulls to “get bailed out” is through a taxpayer-funded rescue, a scenario he deems highly unlikely.

Schiff is again warning that holders of the digital currency are in for a grim awakening — and an unlikely Bitcoin price rally is their only hope. He notes that Bitcoin can only hit a new all-time high if the U.S. government steps in and buys massive amounts of it for its strategic reserve — a move he believes is highly unlikely.

Such a move, Schiff argues, would effectively amount to a taxpayer-backed bailout of crypto speculators — rewarding excessive risk-taking, inflating what he views as an unstable asset, and funneling government money into a market he believes lacks intrinsic value.

Schiff has long been a critic of the concept that governments should hold Bitcoin. He derides the idea of a strategic Bitcoin reserve as “misleading” and “dangerous,” claiming it would undermine the credibility of the U.S. dollar and unnecessarily expose taxpayers to financial risk.

He also blamed the mainstream financial media for fueling Bitcoin’s surge by treating it as a legitimate long-term asset, even as, in his eyes, its flaws are becoming more pronounced. The media has constructed a narrative that could implode under its own weight, injuring the public’s trust if Bitcoin continues to sink, he says.

Schiff wonders about the culture and stability surrounding Bitcoin

Schiff aimed at one of the most potent cultural ideas in Bitcoin: “never sell.” It’s not a philosophy, he insists, but rather an approach taken by whales (early larger investors) to stave off the exodus of smaller holders.

This pressure, he says, leaves retail investors holding the bag while large institutions quietly offload positions. And now, he says, the consequences of that mindset are becoming painfully clear.

Bitcoin’s recent plunge — one he had long warned about — has hit smaller investors hardest. Many have taken out loans and used their Bitcoin as collateral to cover everyday expenses, only to face forced liquidations as prices slide, accelerating the downturn even further.

Schiff believes this cycle suggests deeper structural issues within the crypto economy. He argues that the market remains driven mostly by speculation, leverage, and hype — not utility or stability.

He has only recently doubled down on his long-term prediction that Bitcoin is on track to drop well below $88,000 by 2026, as the asset, aside from losing a significant amount of value in its retreat against the dollar, has struggled to assert resistance against gold.

He observes that Bitcoin’s decline in gold terms is even more extreme than its decline in dollar terms, which reinforces his long-held view that if you want to go long only on store-of-value trades, then gold is the place to be.

Schiff challenges Bitcoin’s core culture

Schiff’s words come as the crypto space has seen volatility return. Bitcoin’s slide has insulated crypto markets from broader market uncertainty, tighter liquidity, and global economic shifts.

In this atmosphere, Schiff’s attacks gain traction — especially among a cadre of gold bugs and traditional market analysts who have been skeptical of Bitcoin’s long-term fundamentals for years.

There’s a deeper issue his argument also touches, though: trust. According to Schiff, Bitcoin’s price surge over the past decade has been driven by confidence, hype, and coordinated optimism. Confidence, he warns, is like a hanging in the middle of your back: Once it breaks, recovery becomes far more difficult — unless there are government interventions to overcome it, which he says we can all but certainly forget about.

Yet Bitcoin advocates remain defiant, dismissing temporary price drops as irrelevant in the face of long-term fundamentals, such as institutional adoption, global liquidity cycles, and increasing demand from developing markets.

Still, Schiff’s message is plain and to the point: Bitcoin traders have exactly one card left to play — and he says that card has been waning in value.

Want your project in front of crypto’s top minds? Feature it in our next industry report, where data meets impact.