Michael Saylor Predicts $13 Million Bitcoin Price, Peter Schiff Calls it Nonsense

In a CNBC interview, Michael Saylor predicted a BTC Price of $13M; Peter Schiff called this “a bunch of nonsense”. Schiff trashed Bitcoin and espoused gold in a separate interview.

With gold’s price on the rise and Bitcoin’s falling, Schiff defended what he called the “apex money”.

Saylor Predicts $13M Bitcoin Price in 21 Years

Michael Saylor made an interview appearance on NBC’s “Squawk Box” on September 9th, pushing his bullish views on Bitcoin. Although Bitcoin’s price has risen over the day, Saylor made this initial appearance in the context of decreasing trendlines overall. Host Joe Squawk told Saylor that “you have a lot of courage, because there’s been a lot of major swings in the past”. When asked if he had any major “close calls”, however, Saylor was resolute.

Saylor discussed the lowest point in his Bitcoin journey, when Silvergate Bank failed. It seemed like a close cal for MicroStrategy, but “it turned out to be a benefit for us. We made a lot of money”. He described the recent market in similar terms, saying that MicroStrategy’s growth “beat every single company in the S&P index”. And all that despite Bitcoin’s price wobbles. Since adopting their Bitcoin strategy, Saylor claimed that MicroStrategy has largely transformed into a Bitcoin development company. From this background, he described Bitcoin’s greatest strengths, especially in its fluid and easily-leveraged maneuvers. Saylor ended with a bold prediction of Bitcoin rising to $13M in 21 years, in the vein of other strongly pro-Bitcoin statements he’s made.

Pushback from Schiff

Stockbroker and financial commentator Peter Schiff went on the offense, however. In a social media post, Schiff lambasted Saylor’s comments as “a bunch of nonsense”. Specifically, he noted that Saylor found a friendly an receptive audience from Squawk Box, because “CNBC is too beholden to their crypto advertisers to really push back against your false statements”. He went on to state that MicroStrategy’s valuation is “down 40% from its 52-week high”, and that “returns are not nearly as rosy as you describe and will soon get worse.” Schiff added that “all funds have positive returns since inception”, skewing Saylor’s long-term claims.

Schiff’s complaints of an overly-friendly interviewer are more genuine than they first appear. That same morning, Schiff made his own interview appearance on the Bankless podcast, arguing for gold’s superiority over Bitcoin. Schiff only mentioned Saylor in passing over the nearly 2 hour interview, forming a wholly unrelated argument against Bitcoin. On the podcast, however, Schiff found a much less receptive audience to his claim that Bitcoin lacks gold’s “most important aspect…the underlying value of the commodity itself”.

Hosts Ryan Sean Adams and David Hoffman were skeptical of Schiff’s claim that gold contains inherent value. “It’s a consensus!”, claimed Adams. “People have to want to store their value in gold!” When Adams asked his peers, he claimed that “bulky” gold jewelry lost its appeal among younger people. Additionally, gold may have practical use in modern industrial settings, but that’s not enough to keep its appeal relevant. Use-cases for iPhone computer chips are all well and good, after all, but nobody’s claiming that we should all get on the palladium standard.

Bitcoin Performance Fluctuating

Schiff’s pro-gold stances were bolstered by gold’s performance next to Bitcoin, as gold climbed steadily while Bitcoin saw downturns. However, Bitcoin has seen a remarkably strong performance since this morning interview, lending credence to Saylor’s bullish attitude.

Still, Schiff’s hostility to Saylor’s appearance does not equate a complete hostility to Bitcoin. Although he was generally opposed to crypto in his own interview, Schiff was able to make a hypothetical case for it when pressed. “It’s possible that people might take refuge in Bitcoin!”, he claimed. Whether gold or Bitcoin, people will be looking for an alternative to mainline fiat currencies, and Bitcoin may end up the more popular option. He ultimately urged his audience to “hedge your bets”, investing in both commodities, so that “even if Saylor is right, you’ll still be rich”.