Gold advocate and longtime crypto skeptic Peter Schiff has announced plans to create his own gold-backed digital token, while questioning the value proposition of U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins.
“I get bitcoin, but not U.S. dollar stablecoins,” Schiff posted Friday 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?”
In response to a user suggesting he launch his own gold-backed stablecoin, Schiff confirmed: “They already exist. But I do intend to launch my own.”
Schiff’s comments come as the U.S. Senate recently passed the GENIUS Act, which aims to establish clearer regulations for the rapidly growing stablecoin market. Stablecoins — digital assets tied to external references such as fiat currencies — have swelled to a market size exceeding $260 billion, with forecasts from Citi projecting it could reach $3.7 trillion by 2030.
Currently, dollar-pegged stablecoins like Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC dominate the sector, serving as essential infrastructure for trading, remittances, and payments in the crypto ecosystem.
In contrast, gold-backed tokens remain a niche segment, with a combined market value of around $2 billion. Typically, these tokens act as a store of value, mirroring the price of physical gold on the blockchain. However, there’s a growing push to integrate them into broader applications, such as using them as collateral in decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols.
Schiff’s planned entry into gold-backed digital assets reflects a rising interest in alternatives to dollar-based stablecoins, as investors look for blockchain solutions tied to tangible, historically trusted assets like gold.
