Binance’s CZ Challenges Peter Schiff Over Tokenized Gold and Questions Its Credibility

Highlights:

• CZ has stated that tokenized gold relies on trust in third parties and cannot match true on-chain ownership.
• Peter Schiff is planning a gold payment app that lets users buy and spend gold through blockchain.
• Bitcoin is showing strength as CZ predicts its market value could one day surpass the worth of gold.

Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has dismissed economist Peter Schiff’s idea of using gold as digital money. Schiff, a long-time Bitcoin critic and known gold advocate, recently revealed plans to launch a blockchain-based platform that would enable payments in gold. He said users will be able to pay or get paid directly in gold through a digital app connected to a debit card. The system, he added, would sell gold instantly to cover transactions and allow users to hold or spend gold as money.

Saying the obvious. Most people “in crypto” know this, most people “not in crypto” may not understand yet.

Tokenizing gold is NOT “on chain” gold.

It’s tokenizing that you trust some third party will give you gold at some later date, even after their management changes, maybe… https://t.co/KMYfz2dG04

— CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance) October 23, 2025

In an interview, Schiff stated that “gold will work better as money now than ever before.” He explained that the platform will let people buy tokenized gold stored in a vault, transfer ownership instantly, or redeem it for physical gold. According to him, this model combines gold’s intrinsic value with blockchain’s speed and efficiency. Schiff claimed his upcoming app, called SchiffGold, will make using gold for everyday transactions cheaper and faster than Bitcoin.

CZ responded sharply, saying that tokenizing gold does not make it “on-chain gold.” He explained that the idea still depends on trusting a central entity to redeem gold later. According to CZ, this defeats one of crypto’s key principles — the removal of third-party trust. He suggested that true digital assets are limited to transactions that occur entirely on-chain and are not controlled by custodians.

He also reminded his followers that most people outside crypto do not understand the difference between tokenization and decentralization. Within the crypto industry, however, this concept is well-known. CZ noted that “gold coins” have never succeeded because users always rely on promises of future redemption. He said people might be told they will receive their gold decades later, even under uncertain conditions such as wars or management changes.

Tokenized Gold Faces Limited Trust and Adoption

Tokenized gold projects have failed to create credibility and investor confidence. They are trying to combine the stability of gold with blockchain technology, but they are still miles away from mass adoption. Top performers like PAX Gold (PAXG) and Tether Gold (XAUt) had both topped a valuation of over $1 billion. Nevertheless, they have experienced decreasing demand with increased skepticism.

CZ pointed out that these models are incompatible with the fundamental objective of crypto to remove middlemen. The tokenized gold assumes a belief that the real asset will be secured by a third party to be made available on demand. Thus, it is not true digital ownership but an IOU. This is seen by many investors as being contrary to the promise of transparency of blockchain.

Bitcoin Strengthens as Market Looks Beyond Gold

Bitcoin has continued to recover amid declining confidence in physical assets. In the past 24 hours, the leading cryptocurrency rose by 0.95%, trading above $110,000 before slightly retreating. Its growing resilience has led many analysts to revisit the long-term comparison between Bitcoin and gold.

CZ predicted that Bitcoin’s market cap will eventually surpass gold’s valuation. He admitted the process will take time due to the significant difference between the assets. Current data shows gold valued at $28.5 trillion, while Bitcoin stands at $2.18 trillion. Despite the gap, Bitcoin remains one of the fastest-growing assets in history.

Prediction: Bitcoin will flip gold.

I don't know exactly when. Might take some time, but it will happen. Save the tweet. pic.twitter.com/bR4Bq0JeVE

— CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance) October 20, 2025