Peter Schiff: Bitcoin's Gold Correlation Was Never Real, and Its Nasdaq Link Just Broke

Economist and longtime bitcoin critic Peter Schiff argued this week that BTC’s supposed correlation with gold “was never real,” while its historically tight relationship with the Nasdaq has now broken down.

Key Takeaways

• Peter Schiff said bitcoin’s gold correlation was never real as BTC trades above $64,000.
• Schiff has cited gold up 9% and the Nasdaq up 13% this year while bitcoin declines against both.
• Schiff warns of a bitcoin ‘slow death’; bulls counter the drawdown is a bear phase, not a verdict.

Schiff Continues With His Anti-Bitcoin Narrative

The latest salvo was highlighted on X by numerous analysts, summarizing Schiff’s argument that bitcoin cannot claim to be digital gold if it never traded like gold in the first place. The Euro Pacific Asset Management chief economist has spent months building the case.

Image source: X His core exhibit has been performance comparisons, as in an earlier post, Schiff highlighted:

“So far in 2026, gold is up 9%, silver is up 11%, the NASDAQ is up 13%, the Russell 2,000 is up 14%, while Bitcoin is down 11%. Congratulations, Bitcoiners. Bitcoin is finally the uncorrelated asset you’ve hoped it would be. Even when risk-on & risk-off assets rise, Bitcoin falls.”

Why Schiff Says the Gold Link Was an Illusion

Schiff’s reasoning runs in two steps. Firstly, bitcoin did not rise alongside gold during the metal’s powerful 2025 rally, which he says is when a genuine safe-haven correlation would have shown itself. Second, bitcoin is falling now (at times alongside gold, at times alone), which he reads as proof that the asset never shared gold’s monetary character.

The second half of his argument targets the other correlation bitcoin bulls once cited. For years, bitcoin traded as a high-beta cousin of technology stocks, rising and falling with the Nasdaq. That link, Schiff observed, has now broken down given that the Nasdaq has advanced double digits while bitcoin has dropped.

Schiff’s bearishness is not new, as he warned last October of staggering crypto losses from an imminent bitcoin and ether crash, and later claimed bitcoin could sink to $75K, a level the market has since undercut, with BTC changing hands around $64,000 earlier today.

What the Bulls Say Back

Strategy Executive Chairman Michael Saylor argues the current phase is institutional construction, with balance sheets rather than retail cycles set to drive the next leg of adoption. Onchain analysts, meanwhile, describe a bear market with a defined arc rather than a terminal decline. Cryptoquant founder Ki Young Ju, for example, has projected the downturn could run into early 2027 before conditions reset.

That said, if gold keeps rallying and bitcoin keeps sliding through the second half of this year, Schiff’s case that the digital gold narrative was marketing rather than math will harden. On the other hand, a resynchronization with either gold or equities would suggest the correlations were dormant rather than dead. Either way, Schiff has made clear he is not waiting around to find out and his advice remains the same as ever, i.e. buy gold.