Trolling on Zhao’s level

🪙 The discussion between Binance founder Changpeng Zhao and well-known digital asset skeptic Peter Schiff became one of the most striking clashes between the old and new financial paradigms. And although the conversation began as a routine argument about the nature of value, it ended in an almost meme-like situation, when the “gold bug” failed to distinguish real gold from a fake. Symbolic: a critic of crypto claiming to understand the true value of the metal fell for a counterfeit — becoming a perfect illustration of the weaknesses of the traditional system.

But let’s go in order.

Schiff once again stated that gold is the absolute form of money because it has industrial use, physical embodiment, and a millennia-long history. Bitcoin, in his view, has no real value, and its price rests solely on collective belief that “this is worth something.” Among digital assets, he accepted only tokenized gold — as documentary proof of owning a real bar.

Zhao responded unexpectedly calmly and methodically, emphasizing that the very fact Schiff could not identify a fake demonstrates the main problem of physical gold: it is difficult to verify, divide, and transport, and trust in gold always relies on intermediaries.

As a counterargument, he cited digital infrastructure: the internet does not exist physically, yet it has enormous value. Bitcoin works the same way: transactions are transparent, every operation is permanently recorded on the blockchain, and the total BTC supply is known in advance and cannot be changed by any government or corporation.

Zhao stated plainly: if he sends 1 BTC, the transaction will be confirmed, and its origin and path can be independently verified. With gold, such precision simply does not exist — production volumes, reserves, and bar origins remain opaque, which regularly leads to scandals.

Another round of debate concerned returns. Schiff claimed that gold has outperformed bitcoin in value growth over the past four years. Zhao suggested extending the period to eight years — and over that horizon the picture changes completely: bitcoin shows a multiple advantage over the metal. And it is precisely the long-term horizon, according to CZ, that demonstrates the real dynamics of the technology rather than temporary fluctuations.

Another key point was payments. The Binance founder pointed out that bank transfers in the international system can take days, while crypto transactions take minutes. Schiff tried to counter that crypto cards simply convert BTC to fiat, but Zhao reminded: for the user the process is irrelevant — the result matters, and money arrives faster, cheaper, and without intermediaries.

And then one of the most accurate lines of the debate appeared: “How many people today use gold to buy goods?” This question, surprisingly, proved far stronger than lengthy arguments.

Despite the heated polemics, the conversation ended quite amicably. Schiff jokingly suggested creating a card for his business, and Zhao did not argue, though both participants kept their original views.

Each walked away with the beliefs they came with, but the online community has already drawn conclusions: the world is changing, and the dispute between gold and bitcoin has become something greater than just a theoretical discussion.

🔍 This is a conversation about trust, technology, and what we consider money in the 21st century. And as the case with the fake gold showed, old systems can fail too.

The video clip of the conversation can be viewed in our Telegram channel.