Just over one week ago, investor and gold bug Peter Schiff announced that his company, Euro Pacific Precious Metals, would be accepting bitcoin in exchange for gold.
The news made headlines rather quickly, mostly because Schiff has denounced bitcoin, at one point calling it a “modern-day tulip mania.”
It was an interesting turn of events, frankly, but the move doesn’t seem to have had much of an impact on Euro Pacific revenues.
Schiff appeared on business television network CNBC on Thursday and made an interesting revelation: one one person has taken him up on his offer and purchased the metal with digital currency.
“How many bitcoins have you seen come into your shop – have you changed your mind yet?” asked the reporter. “You know, last I checked we only had one person who bought gold with bitcoin,” he responded.
He reminded viewers that his company still accepted dollars, too, despite the fact he isn’t a fan of fiat currency, either. At the end of the day, he says, he still has to pay his rent and salary.
[ot-video type=”youtube” url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSaKf05MGy0&feature=youtu.be&t=4m9s”]
Schiff’s company is working hand-in-hand with BitPay to process the transactions (or should we say ‘transaction’?), and his company isn’t the first of its kind to accepting bitcoin for gold.
Competitors include Coinabul and Agora Commodities, both of whom have not released sales stats.
It raises the question: do bitcoin enthusiasts even find gold worth the buy? Many gold and bitcoin holders have the same distrust in fiat, but both seem relatively content in their personal holdings.
What do you think? Are you surprised that only one person has used bitcoin to buy gold on Schiff’s website?
[textmarker color=”C24000″]Image[/textmarker] Gage Skidmore