Gold advocate Peter Schiff and Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) squared off at Binance Blockchain Week in a high-profile debate over gold and Bitcoin’s merits. CZ opened by arguing Bitcoin’s verifiability and utility, especially for payments and cross-border transactions, and demonstrated his point by handing Schiff a gold bar and asking him to verify its authenticity—Schiff’s hesitation drew applause.
CZ highlighted existing Bitcoin payment cards and businesses accepting BTC, saying users needn’t worry about backend complexity when payments are processed. He challenged the notion of gold’s fixed scarcity by noting uncertainties about total above-ground gold, contrasting that with Bitcoin’s capped supply of 21 million and predictable block rewards. CZ also argued that Bitcoin can have significant value despite lacking physical properties.
Schiff defended gold’s practical utility across industries, its role as a central bank reserve asset, and its resistance to decay, calling it a superior store of value. He pointed out that gold’s scarcity and industrial demand support its price and referenced gold’s rise to new all-time highs in 2025, outpacing Bitcoin on one-year charts after Bitcoin’s strong start to the year and a sudden October slump that pushed prices below $100K.
“Gold’s price today represents the present value of all of the uses from now until the end of time,” Schiff said, asserting that commodities with a shelf life don’t offer the same long-term value. He also suggested tokenized gold could address traditional limitations like cross-border transfers and divisibility, blending gold’s intrinsic utility with digital convenience.
