Since the closure of his bank in Puerto Rico, Peter Schiff has been constantly reminded by Bitcoin (BTC) advocates that this would not have happened if he had used BTC.
The President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, also declined to comment. He has had several exchanges with Schiff since El Salvador introduced BTC as a legal tender last year.
Bukele was responding to one of Schiff’s tweets from January of this year in which Schiff criticized BTC and predicted that MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor and Bukele would have to sell their BTC holdings in the event of a price slump. The president asked about Schiff’s bank under the tweet.
The exchange between the two critics comes at a time when global financial markets are in shambles. On the one hand, the crypto market has lost over 60 percent of its market capitalization since the peak, on the other hand, the stock market is at an all-time low.
How’s your bank going?
– Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) July 6, 2022
Schiff has been very clear about the closure of his bank and blames the corrupt local government for it. He has said the government is trying to blackmail him illegally for criticizing them.
The IRS and J5 targeted my bank due to my outspoken criticism of excess government taxation and regulation. Their illegal efforts to punish free speech, deprive me of property without due process, and unnecessarily put thousands of customers at risk, actually justifies my criticism.
– Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) July 6, 2022
Schiff claims that the bank was closed due to his criticism of the government. This example shows how centralized financial institutions such as banks often restrict financial freedom. The BTC price may fluctuate over and over again, but the owner has full control over his money if he has not invested it on a central exchange.
In this context: Deutsche Bank sees Bitcoin price back to $ 28,000 by the end of 2022
Critics often address the volatility of the crypto market. But even the traditional financial market is no better: inflation has reached a 10-year high and several top stocks recorded more significant losses than BTC in 2022.
BTC has played a decisive role in the fact that almost 70 percent of the population of El Salvador, who do not have a bank account, can enjoy financial freedom. Although the BTC price has dropped by over 60 percent since its peak and critics often point to the decline in BTC purchases in El Salvador, the country has integrated 4 million people considered “unbanked” into the financial system with its national Bitcoin wallet.
The Salvadoran remittance network has been enhanced with the introduction of BTC, processing millions of cross-border transactions with minimal fees. The country has proved that Bitcoin can provide financial freedom for people without access to a bank account.
