Peter Schiff to CZ: ‘Bitcoin Payments? They’re Just Liquidated Bets’

A fiery statement erupted astatine Binance Blockchain Week successful Dubai connected December 4, 2025, arsenic golden advocator Peter Schiff squared disconnected against Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) implicit the aboriginal of money.

The treatment centered connected whether Bitcoin oregon tokenized golden amended serves arsenic a store of value, a mean of exchange, and a portion of relationship successful today’s fiscal ecosystem.

The speech rapidly turned heated arsenic goldbug Peter Schiff questioned the applicable inferior of Bitcoin for payments.

“Bitcoin payments aren’t truly payments,” helium said. “They’re conscionable liquidated bets.”

Schiff argued that astir users who transact with Bitcoin are not really spending the cryptocurrency itself. Instead, they are selling Bitcoin into fiat to wage merchants, fundamentally making each transaction a speculative determination connected the asset’s aboriginal price.

CZ countered, emphasizing that from a idiosyncratic perspective, Bitcoin tin relation seamlessly for payments.

Using crypto cards arsenic an example, helium explained that the idiosyncratic swipes their card, Bitcoin is deducted, and the merchant receives their preferred currency.

This aligns with a caller BeInCrypto study highlighting crypto cards arsenic a promising communicative heading into 2026.

CZ argued that intermediaries grip the conversion, simplifying the process for some parties. He besides highlighted that the aforesaid strategy could beryllium applied to golden oregon different assets, but Bitcoin’s integer quality and increasing adoption connection unsocial advantages.

The statement past shifted to the speculative quality of Bitcoin. Schiff maintained that Bitcoin’s worth is purely determined by what the adjacent purchaser volition pay, contrasting it with stocks oregon businesses, which make tangible income and dividends.

“When radical bargain Bitcoin, they deliberation they’re going to get rich,” Schiff said. “It’s a lottery ticket, not a store of value.”

Binance laminitis and erstwhile CEO CZ responded that Bitcoin has proven itself arsenic a semipermanent asset, attracting developers, investors, and institutions, and that speculation is lone 1 facet of its broader ecosystem.