Bitcoin critic Peter Schiff explains why proof-of-work doesn’t make sense in the U.Today.
U.Today – It’s not every day that the CEO and vocal critic of a major cryptocurrency exchange find themselves going back and forth, but here we are. Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase (NASDAQ:) recently pointed out a problem that is both a blessing and a curse for the crypto industry: the number of new tokens being created.
With nearly 1 million tokens emerging each week, Armstrong argued that the current method of evaluating each one individually is no longer viable.
Instead, he suggests switching from “allow list” to “block list” to help users filter out the noise by scanning customer reviews and automatically scanning data on the chain. It also hinted at deeper integration with decentralized exchanges (DEXs), aiming to make the trading experience seamless whether it happens on a decentralized or decentralized platform.
Proof of employment? There is nothing more than tearing it from the ground
Enter Peter Schiff, a gold advocate and cryptocurrency skeptic who never misses an opportunity to question the value of digital assets. Schiff’s response to Armstrong’s comments was characteristically vague.
Zero calls into question the idea of ”limited supply” that is the cornerstone of the Bitcoin value proposition. With so many signs flooding the market, Schiff argued that the inflation rate of digital assets is effectively “off the charts.”
But he didn’t stop there and took aim at Bitcoin’s proof-of-work mechanism, the process by which new coins are created and transactions are verified. For him, job verification is a false concept.
Schiff compares it to spending $10,000 digging a well—energy is wasted but nothing of value is created. While Bitcoin enthusiasts often describe the labor-intensive process as a feature, gold advocates see it as a flaw.
It consumes energy, yes, but it is not stored or converted into something useful. Bitcoin, he argued, is not a battery; It does not contain energy that can be touched later.