Goldbug and fierce bitcoin critic Peter Schiff is “kicking himself” for not buying bitcoin when he first heard about it around the $10 mark. In a debate with Anthony Pompliano hosted by CNBC Crypto Trader, Schiff said:

“I’m already kicking myself, I had that opportunity, I could already be a billionaire if I had only bought it back then… I should have bought it when I first heard about it.”

However, Schiff isn’t budging on his anti-crypto stance. He went on to say the bitcoin party is over and he won’t be buying in now.

“[Just] because I made the mistake of not buying it back then doesn’t mean I’m going to compound the mistake by getting greedy and buying it now. The trade is done.”

The Bitcoin vs Gold Debate

The debate pitched gold investor Peter Schiff against Bitcoin advocate and Morgan Creek Digital co-founder Anthony Pompliano.

Schiff trotted out the usual criticisms of bitcoin: it has no intrinsic value, it’s too volatile for a medium of exchange, it’s a tulip bubble, it’s a religion. Pompliano countered with measured responses. He argued that bitcoin and gold can coexist in a portfolio.

“I’m not here to argue against gold necessarily, I think gold has a place in people’s portfolio, but I do think it’s a little bit short-sighted to say gold but not bitcoin.”

Bitcoin: has the market peaked?

Schiff is adamant that bitcoin peaked at $20,000 and won’t return to that level again.

“From my perspective, I don’t think the hype or excitement today is as great as a year, year and a half ago… The price is declining. I think the market peaked at that $20,000 level in December 2017. I think interest kind of peaked as well. And I think once the market really dropped, people now had a more balanced view, because before that it had only gone up… Now people have lost money. I would say more people who own bitcoin are losing money than making money.”

His analysis seems to focus solely on price. Where in fact the on-chain metrics show sustained interest in the bitcoin ecosystem with transactions and hash rate near all-time highs. More than that, the market is shifting. In 2017, the hype was focused around retail investors, while the latest price run is driven by stronger institutional money.

Schiff remains a crypto critic

Schiff has now debated some of the biggest names in bitcoin including Pompliano, Shapeshift founder Erik Voorhees and Digital Currency Group’s Barry Silbert. In the debate with Silbert he ripped bitcoin owners as “dumb, inexperienced kids.”

“A bunch of young inexperienced kids are going to be dumb enough to buy bitcoin. Maybe they will. But as they get older they’re going to learn better.”

Safe to say we haven’t converted Peter Schiff just yet.