The Gold Bug Caught Holding ‘Digital Gold’

Peter Schiff has constructed a profession on deriding Bitcoin. The outspoken gold evangelist and fund supervisor famously scoffed in 2019, “Maintain dreaming. Bitcoin isn’t going to hit $100,000!”¹. To Schiff, the world’s largest cryptocurrency has lengthy been nothing however “digital idiot’s gold” – a speculative bubble destined to pop, or as he put it in 2023, “nonetheless going to zero…simply touring an extended highway”². But in a twist laced with irony, latest disclosures reveal that Schiff’s personal asset administration arm quietly gained publicity to a bitcoin-backed bond late final yr. In different phrases, the person who equated bitcoin with tulip mania now finds his agency unwittingly invested in a bond powered by the very asset he likes to hate.

The Bitcoin Bond No person Anticipated

The instrument in query is a bitcoin treasury bond issued by Samara Asset Group p.l.c., a publicly traded European asset supervisor (previously referred to as Cryptology Asset Group). In November 2024, Samara efficiently issued what it calls “Europe’s first-ever Bitcoin Bond,” elevating €20 million to broaden its portfolio and considerably enhance its bitcoin treasury holdings.³ The bond (ISIN: NO0013364398) is structured as a 5-year senior secured be aware maturing in 2029, providing a considerable 10.062% annual coupon.⁴ Moreover, the bond contains an revolutionary incentive: bondholders obtain an additional 0.25% premium on principal for each €0.25 enhance in Samara’s Web Asset Worth (NAV) per share, carefully aligning bondholder pursuits with shareholders.

Samara’s CEO Patrick Lowry described the issuance enthusiastically, noting it was “the very first time in historical past a European agency has taken a web page out of the ‘Michael Saylor playbook,’ issuing a bond explicitly with the intent to amass bitcoin.”⁵ Certainly, inside weeks of the bond issuance, Samara utilized the proceeds to buy roughly 76 BTC for its treasury and invested in a number of crypto-focused enterprise funds.⁶

The bond’s backstory reads like pure rocket gas for institutional Bitcoin lovers. Introduced in October 2024 amid rising BTC costs, the Samara Bitcoin Bond was designed to leverage bitcoin as a strategic treasury reserve asset. Samara positioned it as a win-win proposition: buyers would take pleasure in a excessive yield coupled with extra NAV-based upside, whereas Samara might allocate capital into Bitcoin and pioneering tech investments.⁷ By early November, the bond had efficiently closed its non-public placement at €20 million (minimal funding ticket: €100k) and is anticipated to be publicly listed for buying and selling on the Oslo and Frankfurt exchanges inside one to 2 weeks.⁸ Notably, this bond is secured by an overcollateralized portfolio comprising a €150 million basket of Samara’s enterprise investments, locked securely inside a guarantor SPV—leading to an ultra-low loan-to-value ratio of roughly 13.3%.⁹

Little did anybody suspect that amongst these bondholders could be Peter Schiff’s Euro Pacific.

Euro Pacific’s Hidden Bitcoin Guess

Enter the EuroPac Worldwide Bond Fund, a worldwide bond mutual fund managed by Euro Pacific Asset Administration – the agency based and helmed by Peter Schiff¹⁰. Schiff, as an proudly owning member of the advisor, has lengthy formed Euro Pacific’s technique round his macro views (laborious cash, skepticism of the U.S. greenback, affinity for gold and overseas bonds)¹¹. The EuroPac Worldwide Bond Fund usually holds a mixture of sovereign and company debt from all over the world, aligned with Schiff’s thesis that non-U.S. property can defend in opposition to greenback debasement¹². It’s the final place one would look forward to finding something associated to Bitcoin. However that’s precisely what turned up when the fund’s SEC filings had been revealed this yr.

Within the fund’s Kind N-PORT P disclosure (a compulsory SEC submitting of portfolio holdings) masking late 2024, a curious line merchandise seems: “Samara Asset Group PLC” – recognized by the exact same ISIN (NO0013364398) of Samara’s Bitcoin bond¹³. The submitting reveals EuroPac’s bond fund held €800,000 principal worth of Samara’s Bitcoin bond, valued at roughly $870,000 USD, as of the reporting date¹⁴. That place represented about 1.58% of the fund’s web property¹⁵. In plainer phrases, Peter Schiff’s flagship bond fund grew to become a financier of a bitcoin-backed enterprise, whilst Schiff himself spent 2024 loudly bashing bitcoin’s rally.

To be clear, this holding was possible a small, yield-driven allocation made by the fund’s managers (Schiff’s group contains co-managers Jim Nelson, CFA, and Steve Kleckner, CAIA¹⁶). From a bond investor’s perspective, Samara’s 10%+ coupon for a 5-year be aware—secured by a trove of tech investments and bitcoin reserves—might have merely appeared like a pretty high-yield alternative. Actually, EuroPac’s Worldwide Bond Fund had a mandate to hunt earnings in worldwide markets, and 2024’s rising rates of interest made double-digit coupons attractive. In all chance, this was a strategic wager on a robust yield, not an ideological about-face. However intentional or not, the irony is beautiful: Schiff’s fund not directly hitched itself to bitcoin’s success. If bitcoin thrives and bolsters Samara’s funds, EuroPac’s bond might be safer and its curiosity funds safer. Conversely, a bitcoin crash would imperil the very issuer that EuroPac lent cash to.

Irony, Hypocrisy, or Simply Enterprise?

This revelation—that Peter Schiff, Bitcoin’s arch-nemesis, has oblique publicity to bitcoin via his agency’s investments—is prone to spark each amusement and vigorous dialogue inside the bitcoin and crypto group. Given Schiff’s well-known stance, it’s simple to anticipate the inevitable jokes: May Schiff be secretly “stacking sats”? Will bitcoin and crypto Twitter quickly have a discipline day stating the irony of Schiff inadvertently backing Bitcoin?

For years, Schiff has lambasted bitcoin as having “no intrinsic worth” and repeatedly predicted its inevitable collapse. Even when bitcoin crossed $100,000 in December, Schiff dismissed the milestone, tweeting that it solely occurred on account of “shopping for off politicians and getting in mattress with authorities,” and insisted the rally would quickly finish¹⁷.

Whereas Schiff himself might not have been instantly concerned within the choice to buy the Samara Bitcoin bond—such allocations typically mirror pragmatic yield methods by fund managers moderately than ideological shifts—the symbolic impression stays vital. Bitcoin, the decentralized asset Schiff promised by no means to personal, now quietly varieties a part of his agency’s portfolio, underscoring how market incentives can override even deeply-held beliefs.

In the end, this unique discovery highlights a broader narrative: Bitcoin’s gravitational pull in conventional finance has change into so sturdy that even its most outspoken critics can discover themselves not directly aligned with its success.

When Ideology Meets Actuality

This highlights a broader reality in immediately’s markets. As Bitcoin matures and integrates into international finance, it’s blurring traces and forcing unusual bedfellows. We’ve seen large banks that when shunned crypto begin providing bitcoin custody, and hedge fund titans who referred to as Bitcoin a rip-off later allocate to it. However Peter Schiff’s case is probably essentially the most ironic so far – the gold bug inadvertently backing a Bitcoin bond is one for the historical past books. It reveals that pragmatism typically wins out: if a Bitcoin-related instrument can ship returns, even a fund led by Bitcoin’s greatest naysayer will purchase in.

For the Bitcoin-savvy crowd, there’s a candy satisfaction in seeing Schiff’s anti-BTC purism quietly upended. It reinforces the meme that “Bitcoin doesn’t care” – it would convert anybody finally, willingly or in any other case.

To be truthful, Schiff stays as anti-Bitcoin as ever in his public commentary. However the details converse for themselves: Because of the EuroPac Worldwide Bond Fund’s holdings, Peter Schiff now has publicity to Bitcoin’s upside (and draw back) via Samara’s bond¹⁸. The subsequent time he tweets about Bitcoin being nugatory, hodlers can smile figuring out that even Schiff’s personal merchandise are, in a roundabout method, tied to the destiny of digital gold.

Endnotes:

1. Peter Schiff quoted in CryptoPotato: “Maintain dreaming. Bitcoin isn’t going to hit $100,000!” September 30, 2019, CryptoPotato.
2. Peter Schiff quoted in Crypto Information: Bitcoin described as “digital idiot’s gold” and “nonetheless going to zero…simply touring an extended highway,” March 26, 2023, Crypto News.
3. Samara Asset Group Press Launch: “Europe’s first-ever Bitcoin Bond,” December 6, 2024, Samara Asset Group.
4. Samara Bitcoin Bond particulars: 5-year senior secured be aware, 10.062% annual coupon, ISIN NO0013364398, Business Insider Markets.
5. Patrick Lowry (CEO, Samara): First European agency utilizing “Michael Saylor playbook,” December 6, 2024, Samara Asset Group.
6. Samara Asset Group invested bond proceeds into 76 BTC and enterprise funds, December 2024, Samara Asset Group.
7. Samara Bitcoin Bond designed to leverage Bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset, October 2024, Samara Asset Group.
8. Samara Bond non-public placement closed (€20 million), listed Oslo and Frankfurt, November 2024, Samara Asset Group; Business Insider Markets.
9. Samara Bond collateral particulars: overcollateralized €150 million portfolio, 13.3% LTV, November 2024, Samara Asset Group.
10. Euro Pacific Asset Administration, managed by Peter Schiff, Fund Truth Sheet, September 30, 2024, EPC Advisors Group.
11. Peter Schiff’s macroeconomic technique for Euro Pacific Asset Administration, September 2024, EPC Advisors Group.
12. EuroPac Worldwide Bond Fund funding thesis, September 30, 2024, EPC Advisors Group.
13. SEC submitting (Kind N-PORT P), EuroPac Fund holding Samara Bitcoin Bond, December 2024, PublicNow.
14. EuroPac Fund holds €800,000 principal in Samara Bitcoin Bond, valued ~$870,000 USD, December 2024, PublicNow.
15. EuroPac holding in Samara Bond represented 1.58% of web property, December 2024, PublicNow.
16. EuroPac Fund co-managers: Jim Nelson (CFA), Steve Kleckner (CAIA), September 2024, EPC Advisors Group.
17. Schiff response tweet to Bitcoin hitting $100,000, December 2024, Benzinga.

EuroPac Fund oblique Bitcoin publicity confirmed through Samara Bond holding, December 2024, PublicNow.