Peter Schiff, the longtime gold advocate and Bitcoin skeptic, criticized an X user this week for reinvesting dividends from shares of Strategy — the company formerly known as MicroStrategy. Schiff has repeatedly called the firm a ponzi scheme, and his latest broadside has revived questions about whether Strategy's Bitcoin accumulation strategy is legally sound.
Schiff's latest attack
On Tuesday, Schiff took aim at a user who said they were reinvesting dividends from their Strategy holdings. The gold bug shot back, arguing that the company's value rests entirely on a speculative Bitcoin bet rather than real earnings. He didn't let up, calling the reinvestment decision a mistake.
This isn't the first time Schiff has gone after the firm. He's been a vocal critic since it began converting corporate cash into Bitcoin in 2020. For Schiff, the company's stock price is untethered from fundamentals — a house of cards propped up by a single asset.
The ponzi claim — revisited
Schiff's accusation that Strategy is a ponzi scheme isn't new. He's argued that the company must keep buying Bitcoin to maintain its share price, and that new investor money is effectively paying off earlier participants. The structure, he says, can't hold forever.
Strategy itself has defended its approach. The firm has accumulated over 200,000 Bitcoin, funded largely by convertible bond offerings and equity sales. CEO Michael Saylor has framed it as a treasury reserve strategy, not a trading desk. But critics like Schiff see a circular logic: buy Bitcoin, stock goes up, borrow more, buy more Bitcoin.
Legality of the Bitcoin strategy
The fresh debate reignites a broader legal question: is Strategy's Bitcoin play actually compliant with corporate law? The company has always said its board approved the strategy, and it discloses risks in SEC filings. But no major regulator has formally challenged the model.
Some legal observers have noted that as long as the company remains solvent and transparent, the strategy likely passes muster. But Schiff's persistent attacks — and this week's exchange — put the spotlight back on whether a single-asset treasury is sound governance or a gamble dressed up as innovation.
For now, the X spat is just that: an online argument. But it shows that the divide between Bitcoin believers and skeptics is as wide as ever — and that Strategy remains a lightning rod.
