Peter Schiff — a prominent gold advocate and Bitcoin critic — has slammed U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins, as the assets enjoy a moment in U.S. policy circles after the Senate passed a landmark regulation bill with major bipartisan support.
Schiff called the US dollar a “flawed fiat currency,” emphasizing the need for a gold-backed stablecoin instead.
“I get Bitcoin, but not U.S. dollar stablecoins,” Schiff opined in a Friday post on X. “If you’re going to introduce a third-party custodian, why settle for a token backed by a flawed fiat currency like the dollar, when you can own one backed by gold? You get the same liquidity, but you also get a real store of value.”
A stablecoin is a crypto token whose price is pegged to a stable currency, mostly the U.S. dollar. This is normally done by holding a reserve of dollars and other assets that cover the cost of the issued stablecoins. Crypto traders use stablecoins to enter and exit positions without having to access fiat currencies directly, particularly in markets where U.S. dollars are prohibited or unreachable. These assets can also be used to make payments or send remittances abroad in real-time and at much lower costs compared to traditional rails.
When one X user urged Schiff to introduce a gold-backed stablecoin, Schiff noted that such a coin already exists and added that he plans to launch his own.
The stablecoin market is currently dominated by U.S. dollar-backed tokens like Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC.
Stablecoins Are Poised To Explode
Schiff’s comments come as the U.S. Senate passed the GENIUS Act to regulate the fast-growing stablecoin industry. The legislation now heads to the House, and President Donald Trump expects to sign it into law by August.
As previously covered by ZyCrypto, retail giants Amazon and Walmart, and other multinational companies are considering launching their own stablecoins.
The stablecoin market has grown to over $260 billion, with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent predicting that it could become a $3.7 trillion asset class by the end of the decade, especially with the passage of the GENIUS Act.
