When the markets bleed and cryptocurrency enthusiasts recoil to lick their wounds, plenty of people prepare their victory dance. Among the long list of Bitcoin bashers is Euro Pacific Capital CEO and well-known gold bug Peter Schiff.
Taking to social media platform Twitter yesterday, clearly rubbing his hands with glee at the bleeding markets, Schiff was quick to point out both Ether and XRP’s catastrophic losses this year. He said:
“Earlier this year Ether, the #2 crypto by market cap was up over 150%, and now it’s down YTD. Ripple, the #3 crypto, has also give up its earlier gains and is now down over 50% YTD.”
Earlier this year Ether, the #2 crypto by market cap was up over 150%, and now it's down YTD. Ripple, the #3 crypto, has also give up its earlier gains and is now down over 50% YTD. There are still plenty of trading days left in the year for #Bitcoin to end 2019 with a loss!
— Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) December 18, 2019
He couldn’t say the same about Bitcoin, though. Despite the bearish trend yesterday, BTC is still up well over 100% from the start of the year. Schiff didn’t miss an opportunity to spread a little extra FUD however, saying:
“There are still plenty of trading days left in the year for #Bitcoin to end 2019 with a loss!”
Maybe so, but apparently the markets did not agree with him, with every major cryptocurrency in the green today including Ether and Ripple’s XRP. Bitcoin is also firmly back above $7,000 at the time of writing.
Bitcoin outperformed every major asset this year
While it’s true that the earlier summer highs of more than $13,000 were not to last, BTC has still outperformed all major asset classes this year, even as it hovers above $7,000.
The number one cryptocurrency’s YTD performance of ~140% as of November 2 still vastly outshines the Nasdaq 100 (28.93%) as well as top tech companies like IBM (19.23%) and Apple (62.8%) and commodities like oil (21.06%).
2019 Returns…
Bitcoin: +142%
Nasdaq 100 $QQQ: +30%
REITs $VNQ: +30%
S&P 500 $SPY: +24%
Oil $USO: +21%
Small Caps $IWM: +19%
EAFE $EFA: +18%
Gold $GLD: +18%
Investment Grade $LQD: +16%
High Yield $HYG: +12%
EM $EEM: +11%
US Bonds $AGG: +9%
US Dollar $UUP: +4%
Cash $BIL: +1.8%— Charlie Bilello (@charliebilello) November 2, 2019
And how about Peter Schiff and his much-beloved gold? Bitcoin has torn strips off the precious metal this year. Arguably its main competitor as a “safe-haven investment”, gold has registered meagre gains of just 19.16% at the time of writing.
None of this information appeared in Schiff’s social outcry yesterday, of course, which naturally prompted a slew of comments from crypto supporters.
Some pointed out the inaccuracies in his tweet, saying: “Ripple is not a coin. #XRP is number 3. Shows how much you actually know about cryptos.”
While others were quick to remind him that even as BTC languished under $7,000, it was still up 100% compared to gold at not even 20%.
One cheeky follower simply asked, “When do we buy the dip?”, to which Schiff fired back, “This isn’t a dip, it’s a falling knife.”
This isn't a dip. It's a falling knife.
— Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) December 18, 2019
A knife that appears to be rising once more.
Featured image by Thanh Tran on Unsplash
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author should not be considered as financial advice. We do not give advice on financial products.