Legendary Bear Peter Schiff Warns: 'We're Going To Need An Alternative Monetary System'

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Economist Peter Schiff says tokenized gold could play a central role in a future monetary system, arguing it offers a more practical alternative as confidence in fiat currencies weakens.
"We're going to need an alternative monetary system because the dollar is going to collapse," Schiff said in a clip from his "Schiff Sovereign" podcast in late January, adding that people will increasingly move away from fiat and toward alternative stores of value.
He also said the transition would likely center on gold, saying its usefulness increases when paired with internet-based infrastructure.
Tokenization, Schiff said, removes the friction of physically handling gold while preserving its underlying value. It also makes gold practical for everyday use if prices rise sharply. He said gold could eventually reach $10,000 or even $20,000 per ounce, making the ability to transact in small tokenized increments essential.
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Schiff advocated on the podcast for a model where trusted third parties hold physical gold while users transact digitally. In his view, such a setup would allow gold to function as a medium of exchange without sacrificing convenience.
He has also stated that not all holdings should be custodial, with tokenized gold primarily used for transactions rather than long-term storage.
Schiff wrote on X in January that gold's recent outperformance shows Bitcoin is failing to live up to its "digital gold" label. Markets have had ample time to price in a breakout, he said, yet Bitcoin continues to lag.
"Everyone expects Bitcoin to follow gold's lead and rally to new highs," Schiff wrote. "What's far more likely is that Bitcoin's failure to match gold's gains undermines its narrative as digital gold, resulting in a spectacular crash."
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"I'd rather have a cryptocurrency backed up by real money," Schiff said on the "Randi Hipper Show" podcast in January, adding that Bitcoin is ultimately backed by nothing. He argued that while stablecoins are more practical for transactions, the strongest version would be backed by physical gold. "The best stable coin… would be a tokenized gold," he said.
In November, Schiff warned on the Schwab Network that companies building treasury strategies around Bitcoin or Ethereum could face insolvency if sentiment shifts, as those models rely on speculative demand rather than operating income.
Not everyone agrees with that outlook. Bitwise Head of Research André Dragosch pushed back on similar critiques, according to a Bitwise report in March, arguing that capital often rotates from safe-haven assets like gold into higher-risk trades such as Bitcoin once the initial flight to safety subsides. He added that gold's performance usually leads Bitcoin by about four to seven months.
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Schiff maintains that Bitcoin is already losing relevance as both a payment method and a store of value. Stablecoins are gaining traction for transactions, while tokenized gold is emerging as a more stable alternative.
"The race to get out of Bitcoin is on. Don't be last," he warned on X in November, reiterating his view that tokenized gold may ultimately become the only sustainable use case for blockchain technology.
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