Bitcoin critic Peter Schiff’s Twitter warned of more pain in 2023 for bullish BTC hodlers.
Peter Schiff says 2023 will test the staying power of Bitcoin hodlers after Michael Saylor sells 700 BTC for tax relief.
Bitcoin critic and gold expert Peter Schiff mocked Bitcoin bulls about 2023 despite the cryptocurrency falling 65% in 2022.
Hodlers Stand Firm Despite Schiff Taunts
After raising a question about whether hodlers would sell if Bitcoin hit $5,000, Schiff then asked on Twitter how low the price would have to go before hodlers admitted they were wrong about Bitcoin:
“If crypto investors think 2022 was a bad year, wait until they get a load of 2023. Despite this year’s 65% collapse, the faithful remain optimistic that Bitcoin will soon moon to new highs. I wonder if a 2023 Bitcoin plunge below $5K will be enough to shake hodler confidence.”
Most said they would hold Bitcoin even if it hit zero, while almost 10% would sell it at $5,000. Interestingly, almost a fifth said they would sell if it went below $1,000. The rest established the mark of less than 10,000 dollars as a cut-off point.
Several cryptocurrency business collapses and grim macroeconomic conditions have seen Bitcoin drop three-quarters from its peak of around $69,000 on Nov. 30, 2022.
Investors seeking to de-risk their portfolios amid rising inflation created selling pressure for Bitcoin, prompting it to trail shares. and other downside risk assets.
Saylor Reaffirms MicroStrategy Bet
The bear market, which some have predicted that may turn into a full-blown recession, has not dampened MicroStrategy’s enthusiasm for hodling.
The company bought back the dip, adding 2,395 BTC to its balance sheet on December 22, 2022.
In a recent Twitter Spaces roundtable, MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor said technocratic Bitcoin investors expect returns from the macro environment over five to 10 years.
Rather, he added that MicroStrategy belongs to a group of maximalists who view Bitcoin as “good for the human race” and whose long-term investments are aimed at furthering Bitcoin adoption.
It is somewhat ironic then that the company sold 704 BTC in December 2022 for roughly $12 million, only to quickly buy up 810 BTC a few days later.
While sticking to his maximalist philosophy, Saylor conceded that the sale of Bitcoin introduces a capital loss that can offset the capital gains tax levied on MicroStrategy’s enterprise software business.
However, the sale is at odds with Saylor’s promise in a January 2022 Bloomberg interview. Speaking at Bloomberg Studio 1.0, he was asked if MicroStrategy would sell its Bitcoin during a prolonged bear market.
“Never. No. We are not sellers,” he said. “We are just acquiring and holding BTC, right? That is our strategy.”
Notwithstanding the foregoing, the pressure of rising interest rates in 2022 will put pressure on its share price, which is already down 74% so far this year.
Additionally, the company’s labor costs could rise significantly as it builds software to bring Bitcoin’s Lightning Network to the masses.
By Audy Castaneda
