Economist Peter Schiff questioned on Wednesday President Donald Trump’s push to make the U.S. the “world capital” of Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), arguing that Beijing couldn’t care less about the leading cryptocurrency.
China Not Bothered About Bitcoin, Says Schiff
In an X post, Schiff slammed Trump’s oft-repeated argument that the U.S. must dominate cryptocurrency and blockchain technology to stop China from getting ahead.
“But Chinese leadership is too smart to care about Bitcoin,” Schiff said. “While we’re wasting capital and resources, they’re building factories and buying gold.”
China Maintains Anti-Crypto Stance
Trump claimed in November that China was trying to get “big” into cryptocurrency, even though there has been no concrete evidence.
Beijing issued multiple restrictions between 2013 and 2021 that ultimately banned all cryptocurrency transactions and mining. China’s central bank formally declared all digital-asset trading illegal in September 2021, and providing such services to Chinese citizens from abroad is also prohibited.
The central bank reaffirmed the enforcement in November, voicing specific worries about dollar-pegged stablecoins.
The country has rather focused on advancing its central bank digital currency, the Digital Yuan. Also, unlike the U.S., China has not announced a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.
On the other hand, China has aggressively ramped up its gold reserves, marking 14 consecutive months of purchases as of early January, reported Bloomberg.
Crypto In Bear Market?
Schiff’s remarks come alongside a brutal sell-off hammering Bitcoin and the broader cryptocurrency market.
The leading cryptocurrency was only 1.8% away from falling to its previous bull-cycle peak of $69,700. Bitcoin has nearly erased all the gains since Trump assumed office.
Price Action: At the time of writing, BTC was exchanging hands at $70,423.22, down 7.76% in the last 24 hours, according to data from Benzinga Pro
Photo courtesy: Shutterstock
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