- Peter Schiff criticized the limitations of spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
- The American stockbroker also took a dig at MicroStrategy’s (MSTR) latest BTC purchase.
- The analyst likewise shared his negative prediction regarding the possible Bitcoin adoption of the Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) of Japan.
Like a scavenger waiting for its prey to weaken, Peter Schiff once again saw an opportunity to bash Bitcoin as its prices dipped following a series of all-time highs in the past couple of weeks. This time, his targets were Bitcoin ETFs, MicroStrategy’s latest BTC purchase, and the possibility of the digital asset’s inclusion in Japan’s GPIF investment portfolio.
Insights on Bitcoin ETFs
First off, Schiff took a potshot on Bitcoin ETFs on X because of their limited liquidity, which is tied to their trading hours in US exchanges. He said this could prove to be catastrophic for investors who will have to wait for the opening of the market to get out of their positions when BTC price immediately crashes during market close.
The chairman of SchiffGold added that ETFs are the only things holding Bitcoin together. Without them, the dips would be lower than they are now. Likewise, he warned about a possible scenario where all ETFs would suddenly have outflows.
Reaction to MicroStrategy’s Latest Bitcoin Purchase
MicroStrategy once again got into the spotlight yesterday when its executive chairman, Michael Saylor, announced its 9,245 Bitcoin acquisition for $623 million at $67,382 per BTC. At the time of Schiff’s rant on the company, MSTR’s last top-up on the crypto asset was down by around $115 million.
As of this writing at 7:30 AM UTC on Wednesday, the prime cryptocurrency is still down by over 2% in the 24-hour chart as it trades around $62,500 a pop. This came despite the 20% rally in its transaction volume as $71.21 billion worth of BTC moved between wallet addresses.
At this point, MicroStrategy holds 214,246 BTC at $35,160 per Bitcoin. Doing the match, the current price of the digital currency still puts the unrealized profits of Saylor’s company from its Bitcoin investment at $5.84 billion.
Thoughts on GPIF’s Potential Inclusion of Bitcoin in Its Investment Portfolio
Lastly, Schiff commented on the disclosure of GPIF, Japan’s biggest pension fund by assets under management (AUM), about its plan to include Bitcoin in its investment portfolio. As expected, the American investor wasn’t buying it.
“My guess is they won’t,” he said. “If they really were leaning toward buying Bitcoin, the last thing they’d do is make their intentions public before buying.”
Yesterday, GPIF announced that it is evaluating several illiquid assets for the expansion of its investment portfolio. Among the key considerations were gold and Bitcoin.