Today’s post is a bit of a mixed plate, part reaction to the Peter Schiff vs CZ debate, part reflection on Hive, and part thoughts about where digital currency is heading. Honestly, each of these could be its own full blog, and maybe I’ll write separate posts in the future. But for now, I’ll just put all my thoughts in one place.
If you haven’t seen it yet, here’s the debate I’m talking about:
Bitcoin & Tokenized Gold – Peter Schiff vs CZ
Bitcoin vs Gold, and the Age Gap
Let me admit this upfront, I’m biased toward BTC.
If you gave me a choice between Bitcoin and Gold, it’s an easy decision. But if you gave the same choice to my dad, he’d probably pick gold without thinking twice. That’s where I feel the generational gap shows up. Those who grew up in the fully analog world tend to trust what they can hold in their hand. For them, bars and coins feel “real”. For people like us who’ve already moved a big part of our life onto screens, digital money just feels natural.
Of course, there are exceptions. Some older folks who took the time to understand blockchain will happily choose BTC over gold. But in general, I think age and familiarity with tech play a big role in which side people pick in this debate.
Watching Peter Schiff argue against BTC in 2025 actually reminded me of an office conversation about eight years ago. A colleague told me very confidently that Bitcoin was a bad investment and wouldn’t go anywhere. Back then BTC was around 15k (if I remember correctly). Today it’s around 93k. If I wanted to be arrogant, I could go back and tell him how wrong he was… but I don’t feel the need.
For me, BTC and crypto aren’t for bragging. They’ve become part of my life, part of my financial foundation. I don’t feel like I have to convince anyone anymore. I’m already secure in my decision to be in this industry and to be a believer.
Because of that, debates like this feel almost unnecessary now. Crypto is here to stay. No amount of criticism or angry tweets will make it disappear. If anything, I believe the crypto space will stay much longer than people expect, and over time, more of the world will quietly plug into these rails. At some point, it won’t even be a debate topic anymore, just the default.
“Bitcoin Isn’t Money” and Why HBD Might Be
One point Peter Schiff raised is that Bitcoin isn’t money anymore because it became a store of value, and to be fair, I kind of agree with that part.
BTC works better as digital gold than as day-to-day spending money. The volatility alone makes it hard for both buyers and sellers to agree on a “comfortable” price in real life. You don’t want to buy a burger with BTC today and realize you just spent a future down payment tomorrow.
If we’re talking about money in the transactional sense, something both sides can agree on easily, I actually think Hive Backed Dollars (HBD) is a better candidate.
With HBD, 1 HBD = 1 USD. That’s simple. Both the buyer and seller can agree to that value. On top of that, HBD isn’t issued by a single company or a bank. It’s fully backed by the Hive ecosystem, an entire blockchain and community supporting it, not just a central entity pushing a token. That gives it a different kind of credibility and resilience in my eyes.
And from a user experience point of view, HBD already behaves like the kind of digital money people imagine for the future: fast, cheap, and easy to move around.
So yes, Bitcoin can be our store of value… our digital gold. But for everyday transactions, stable assets like HBD are the ones that feel more “money-like” and practical.
From Paya Lebar to a Future Without Money Changers
Earlier today, I was at Paya Lebar and walked past one of those money exchange shops. You know the usual setup, bright signboards, rows of forex rates, people lining up with cash.
And I couldn’t help thinking: how long will this business model survive?
If you zoom out and look at where we’re heading, money changers and even traditional remittance services are exactly the kind of thing crypto is designed to replace. Once more people are plugged into crypto rails, exchanging one fiat currency to another will feel unnecessary in many situations.
Why?
Because crypto doesn’t care about borders.
If I can hold value in a digital asset and send it anywhere in the world within seconds, the idea of going to a money changer suddenly feels outdated. Even remittances, which used to take days and high fees, are now easily replaced by stablecoins and on-chain transfers.
In Hive’s case, if someone has a Hive account and an internet connection, I can send HBD to them in just a few seconds. No paperwork, no service counter, no long queue, no “come back in 3 working days”. Just value moving from one account to another, instantly.
To the average person today, that may still sound “niche” or “early adopter only”. But for us who are already in this space, it feels normal. And that’s what excites me, this normal we’re living now is probably what the rest of the world will experience in the future.
Closing Thoughts
So that’s how my thoughts connect today:
- A gold vs Bitcoin debate that, for me, is already settled.
- A reminder that BTC has grown so much since people said it would go nowhere.
- A realization that stablecoins like HBD might actually become the real “money” people use day-to-day.
- And a random walk past a money changer at Paya Lebar that made me imagine a future where those counters are replaced by digital wallets.
Crypto, Hive, BTC, HBD, they’re no longer just speculation tools to me. They’re pieces of an emerging financial system that feels more open, faster, and more borderless than anything we’ve had before.
And as for Peter Schiff and CZ… they can keep debating on stage. I’ll just keep stacking, building on Hive, and quietly preparing for the world that’s already on its way.
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BTC is a hard task 🤣
Interesting thoughts! Let's all be part of future by getting ready on Hive