Peter Schiff: Trump’s SBR is due to pressure from his donors and conflicted cabinet members

Chief Economist and Global Strategist at Euro Pacific Capital Peter Schiff has revealed that Trump signed an executive order to create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve while under pressure from his donors and conflicted cabinet members. He argued that Trump wants to create the reserve using the Bitcoin the government already owns, but the executive order doesn’t authorize the buying of any more Bitcoin.

Schiff later clarified that the executive order did authorize acquiring more Bitcoin so long as it could be done at zero cost. The White House revealed that “The Secretaries of Treasury and Commerce were authorized to develop budget-friendly strategies for acquiring additional BTC.”

He also suggested that it meant that “if they seize any more Bitcoin they can keep that too.” The economist maintained that the executive order doesn’t allow the government to buy more digital assets, as buying by definition required a payment.

Peter Schiff believes Trump was under pressure to create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve

Under pressure from his donors and conflicted cabinet members, Trump just signed a bogus executive order to create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve using the Bitcoin the government already owns. But the executive order doesn't authorize the buying of any more Bitcoin. Look out below!

— Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) March 7, 2025

Peter Schiff, Chief Economist and Global Strategist at Euro Pacific Capital has disclosed that the President was under pressure from his donors and conflicted cabinet members to create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. He called Trump’s executive order to create a reserve “bogus” since the government wanted to use the BTC it already owned.

The economist also noted that the executive order allowed the government to acquire more BTC so long as they can do so without any costs. The order authorizes the state to get more digital assets without buying and Schiff jokingly mentioned that the government can keep all the Bitcoin they seize.

Crypto enthusiast Ryan Park argued that the order doesn’t authorize the buying of other virtual currencies for the “other stockpile.” He believes that the executive order doesn’t allow the selling of gold and buying of Bitcoin from “I dunno Fort Knox stockpile,” which should not be confused with the Bitcoin Strategic Reserve. 

Park acknowledged that Bessent and Lutnick had also been authorized to explore ways of acquiring more BTC without costing the taxpayer. The tech enthusiast maintained that selling gold and purchasing digital assets from the Fort Knox stockpile does not cost the taxpayer a dime.

Euro Pacific Capital’s global strategist argued that selling gold and purchasing BTC do cost money, and the cost of the digital asset is the gold sold to pay for it. Schiff said that paying for Bitcoin for gold was the same as paying cash.

Park dismissed Schiff’s claims and said that selling gold for Bitcoin involved opportunity costs and “NOT direct taxpayer funds.” He also suggested that the government’s gold could be stabilized by Bitcoin’s growing adoption but not replaced by it. 

Park argued that BTC’s value could bolster gold’s role and reduce market volatility, unlike debt reduction, which offered fiscal stability. He added that the government favoring Bitcoin over other assets reflected belief in the potential of the virtual asset “to complement, not supplant, gold.”

Schiff says Trump is preventing the market from collapsing

Peter Schiff argued that Trump was the only thing that could delay a Bitcoin drop because the support of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve could push prices higher. He also stated that the entire crypto market would collapse without Trump forcing U.S. taxpayers to buy BTC and other worthless crypto tokens.

“I think the only thing that can delay a Bitcoin meltdown is Trump. He has to indicate strong support for a Bitcoin Strategic Reserve, funded by large purchases of Bitcoin. Basically, the equivalent of QE, only with the government buying Bitcoin instead of bonds. It’s not likely.” – Peter Schiff, Chief Economist and Global Strategist at Euro Pacific Capital.

The economist argued that a government-backed crypto reserve would ultimately be counterproductive. The crypto skeptic also warned that once the buying halted, the market would likely resume its decline. He also noted that the government could trigger a massive crypto crash if it ever decided to liquidate its holdings.

The President signed the executive order on March 7 to establish a government reserve of BTC. Crypto Czar David Sacks revealed the government will retain the estimated 200,000 Bitcoin already seized in criminal and civil proceedings.

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