Gold vs Bitcoin: Peter Schiff to Debate CZ Over the Future of Money

A fresh battle over the future of money is brewing after gold advocate and longtime Bitcoin critic Peter Schiff publicly challenged Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao to a live debate comparing Bitcoin and tokenized ￰1￱ an X post earlier this week, Schiff invited CZ to discuss “which best satisfies the conditions of money,” referring to the traditional economic functions of a medium of exchange, a unit of account, and a store of value. I challenge @cz_binance to a debate: Bitcoin versus tokenized ￰2￱ best satisfies the conditions of money, which include being a medium of exchange, a unit of account, and a store of value? Who wants to moderate? — Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) October 23, 2025 CZ, who earlier today received a presidential pardon from Donald Trump, replied to him , saying he is in the mood for it.

I am in the mood for ￰3￱ much as you voice against bitcoin, you are always professional, and non personal. I appreciate ￰4￱ have a debate about it. — CZ BNB (@cz_binance) October 23, 2025 He further added that “As much as you voice against Bitcoin, you are always professional and non-personal. I appreciate ￰5￱ have a debate about it.“ The proposed debate comes at a time when both gold and Bitcoin are commanding global ￰6￱ recently hit a record high above $4,035 per ounce amid ongoing ￰7￱ gridlock and concerns over fiscal stability, while Bitcoin crossed the $126,000 mark earlier this month, its highest level ￰8￱ Pushes Tokenized Gold as the ‘Ideal Blockchain Asset,’ CZ Disagrees Schiff, a well-known economist and CEO of Euro Pacific Asset Management, has spent years criticizing Bitcoin’s value ￰9￱ argues that the cryptocurrency’s volatility, speculative nature, and lack of intrinsic value make it unsuitable as money or a long-term store of ￰10￱ contrast, he views gold, particularly tokenized gold, as the superior asset, combining the tangible backing of precious metal with blockchain efficiency.

“Ideally, the one thing that makes sense to put on a blockchain is gold,” Schiff said in a recent interview, explaining that his upcoming tokenized gold platform will allow users to buy, store, and redeem gold through blockchain-based tokens issued by his company, Shift ￰11￱ Schiff reveals he will be launching a tokenized gold product "You'll be able to buy gold on an app through your phone, the gold will be stored in a vault and then you will be able to effortlessly transfer ownership of gold to people you know or redeem it for physical gold" ￰12￱ — Tengen (@Crypto_Tengen) October 23, 2025 “You can use tokenized gold as a medium of exchange, a unit of account, and a store of value.” CZ responded sharply to Schiff’s claims, arguing that tokenized gold, while technologically interesting , is not truly “on-chain” since it depends on third-party custodians.

“Tokenizing gold is NOT ‘on-chain’ gold,” CZ wrote on X. “It’s tokenizing that you trust some third party will give you gold at some later date—maybe decades later, during a war, after management changes, etc. It’s a ‘trust me bro’ token.” Binance founder @cz_binance claims tokenized gold isn't truly 'on-chain,' dismissing it as a 'trust me bro' token. #TokenizedGold #Gold #CZ ￰0￱ — ￰13￱ (@cryptonews) October 23, 2025 He added that trust-based systems are precisely why “no gold coins have really taken off,” reaffirming his view that Bitcoin’s decentralized structure makes it a more reliable form of digital ￰14￱ exchange reignited one of finance’s oldest debates: whether digital or physical scarcity will define the next era of monetary ￰15￱ vs.

CZ: Gold’s 5,000-Year Reign Meets Bitcoin’s Modern Challenge Schiff maintains that gold’s history as a stable store of value over 5,000 years proves its ￰16￱ also points out that gold has outperformed Bitcoin so far in 2025 in terms of stability and price ￰17￱ SCHIFF: “Gold is more likely to hit $1 million than #Bitcoin .” ￰18￱ — Coin Bureau (@coinbureau) October 17, 2025 Data shows that while Bitcoin surged 150% since the start of 2024, gold rose by about 100% during the same period, though its recent rally has outpaced Bitcoin’s consolidation phase.) October 21, 2025 In recent months, Bitcoin’s correlation with gold has also ￰19￱ shows that while both assets were nearly perfectly correlated at the beginning of 2024, their correlation has since dropped to 0.19, indicating that the two now move mostly ￰20￱ Tokenized Gold Booms, Analysts Say Bitcoin May Be Entering Its Next Phase The debate also comes amid a surge in the tokenized gold ￰21￱ to CoinGecko , the combined market capitalization of gold-backed tokens such as Tether Gold (XAUT), PAX Gold (PAXG), and Kinesis Gold (KAU) recently crossed $3.75 billion, up from $3 billion earlier this month.) tokenization, which has seen a 36% increase in the past ￰22￱ than 150,000 holders and 20,000 active addresses interacted with gold-backed tokens over the same period, while monthly transfer volumes have climbed above $8.6 ￰23￱ gold-backed assets gain traction, some analysts argue that the Bitcoin market may be entering a new phase of ￰24￱ CEO David Marcus recently said Bitcoin remains “severely undervalued” compared to gold and could reach $1.3 million per coin if it matched gold’s total market ￰25￱ called Bitcoin the “internet of money,” emphasizing its role as a global settlement layer for cross-border ￰26￱ CIO Matt Hougan also noted that gold’s sharp gains in 2025 could offer clues to Bitcoin’s next ￰27￱ attributed gold’s rally largely to central bank accumulation since 2022 and suggested Bitcoin could see similar momentum once large-scale institutional accumulation begins.