From Critic To HODLer: Gold Bug Peter Schiff Calls For Bitcoin Donations For His Birthday

Gold bull and Bitcoin detractor Peter Schiff is full of surprises. For his 62nd birthday, Schiff has requested Bitcoin donations for his new Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, which he has finally managed to transfer from an exchange into a hardware wallet for apparent transparency purposes. For transparency, I moved my Strategic Bitcoin Reserve from an exchange to a hardware wallet. Today is my 62nd birthday. To build my reserve in a budget-neutral way, just like the U.S. government, in lieu of gifts, I'm accepting Bitcoin. bc1q0vxwxsmkjy5t95qpc0mfznl59928grsr4wfa97 — Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) March 23, 2025 Schiff’s Latest Dig At Crypto Schiff debuted his BTC reserve earlier this month, a tongue-in-cheek budget-neutral project motivated by the U.S. government’s plans to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve . As of press time, Schiff’s Bitcoin reserve held a modest 0.053 BTC, valued at around $4,658. Interestingly, instead of requesting traditional birthday gifts, Schiff is inviting people to contribute BTC to his reserve. He clarified that these contributions are not donations to him personally, as they are going into the reserve. And despite his long history of belittling Bitcoin, he insists he will never touch or sell the BTC, claiming his strategy “is to go down with the ship, like a true HODLer!” Schiff has emerged as one of the loudest criticizers of the new Donald Trump admin. The renowned economist has slammed what he believes is an excessively comfortable relationship between the cryptosphere and the current government, as well as Trump family-linked crypto projects. Last week, Schiff decried Trump’s Bitcoin Strategic Reserve project, claiming that the move was just a harmful way for the crypto industry to trick more Americans into speculative losses. “Thanks to Trump, more Americans will lose more money in crypto than in any prior speculative mania in history. The $TRUMP meme coin , already down over 80%, is a perfect example,” he quipped at the time. The gold proponent also called the recent inaugural White House crypto summit a “disgrace” and “national embarrassment.” Moreover, Schiff has oftentimes asserted that gold is a better investment than Bitcoin, likening it to Tulip mania. Despite his incessant critiques of Bitcoin, Schiff’s actions indicate a more convoluted relationship with the alpha cryptocurrency. While Bitcoin rocketed higher in November, Schiff attempted to get a piece of the action by selling his own Bitcoin Ordinals collection. This sale, deemed by many as opportunistic, highlights his tendency to profit from the very asset he publicly vilifies.