A cheeky remark by influential economist Peter Schiff spawned a new cryptocurrency on Sunday that already has millions added to its capitalization.
What happened: The creators of the cryptocurrency USAcoin (USACOIN) were inspired by Schiff, who advised the U.S. government to consider the possibility of a strategic USAcoin reserve rather than a Bitcoin BTC/USD reserve.
As of this writing, the coin has a market valuation of roughly $2.80 million, with over $7 million in trading volume in the last 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap.
Reacting to the new coin, Schiff clarified that he doesn't endorse it. "My post was sarcastic -- don't buy it," the staunch Bitcoin critic said. However, he stood by the idea behind proposing such a cryptocurrency.
On Saturday, Schiff mooted the idea of a new government-backed cryptocurrency with a supply limit of 21 million, similar to Bitcoin, but one that has value and can be utilized for payments.
No prizes for guessing the new USAcoin also shows a supply cap of 21 million but was yet to be validated.
See Also: MicroStrategy's Aggressive Bitcoin Strategy Raises Eyebrows In Crypto Community
Why It Matters: Schiff has blasted the idea of a strategic Bitcoin reserve, going to the extent of calling it "treason" and the "worst monetary mistake" the U.S. could make. He argued that Bitcoin is not a viable reserve asset due to its market volatility.
A gold advocate, Schiff strongly opposes Bitcoin, stating that it has no fundamental value and was destined to fail.
While Schiff admitted to regretting not buying Bitcoin when it was around $1, he emphasized that this doesn't mean he would buy it now.
Price Action: At the time of writing, Bitcoin was exchanging hands at $93,808.60, down 3.16% in the last 24 hours, according to data from Benzinga Pro.
Read Next:
Bitcoin Is No Manhattan Real Estate, Peter Schiff Challenges MicroStrategy's Michael Saylor: 'BTC Doesn't Generate Any Income' $BTCBitcoin$94476.68-0.65%WatchlistOverviewMarket News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs