Bitcoin Magazine
Peter Schiffâs Bitcoin Bond Secret: The Gold Bug Caught Holding âDigital Goldâ
Peter Schiff has built a career on deriding Bitcoin. The outspoken gold evangelist and fund manager famously scoffed in 2019, âKeep dreaming. Bitcoin is never going to hit $100,000!â1. To Schiff, the worldâs largest cryptocurrency has long been nothing but âdigital foolâs goldâ â a speculative bubble destined to pop, or as he put it in 2023, âstill going to zeroâŠjust traveling a long roadâ2. Yet in a twist laced with irony, recent disclosures reveal that Schiffâs own asset management arm quietly gained exposure to a bitcoin-backed bond late last year. In other words, the man who equated bitcoin with tulip mania now finds his firm unwittingly invested in a bond powered by the very asset he loves to hate.
The instrument in question is a bitcoin treasury bond issued by Samara Asset Group p.l.c., a publicly traded European asset manager (formerly known as Cryptology Asset Group). In November 2024, Samara successfully issued what it calls âEuropeâs first-ever Bitcoin Bond,â raising âŹ20 million to expand its portfolio and significantly increase its bitcoin treasury holdings.3 The bond (ISIN: NO0013364398) is structured as a 5-year senior secured note maturing in 2029, offering a substantial 10.062% annual coupon.4 Additionally, the bond includes an innovative incentive: bondholders receive an extra 0.25% premium on principal for every âŹ0.25 increase in Samaraâs Net Asset Value (NAV) per share, closely aligning bondholder interests with shareholders.
Samaraâs CEO Patrick Lowry described the issuance enthusiastically, noting it was âthe very first time in history a European firm has taken a page out of the âMichael Saylor playbook,â issuing a bond explicitly with the intent to acquire bitcoin.â5 Indeed, within weeks of the bond issuance, Samara utilized the proceeds to purchase approximately 76 BTC for its treasury and invested in several crypto-focused venture funds.6
The bondâs backstory reads like pure rocket fuel for institutional Bitcoin enthusiasts. Announced in October 2024 amid rising BTC prices, the Samara Bitcoin Bond was designed to leverage bitcoin as a strategic treasury reserve asset. Samara positioned it as a win-win proposition: investors would enjoy a high yield coupled with additional NAV-based upside, while Samara could allocate capital into Bitcoin and pioneering tech investments.7 By early November, the bond had successfully closed its private placement at âŹ20 million (minimum investment ticket: âŹ100k) and is expected to be publicly listed for trading on the Oslo and Frankfurt exchanges within one to two weeks.8 Notably, this bond is secured by an overcollateralized portfolio comprising a âŹ150 million basket of Samaraâs venture investments, locked securely within a guarantor SPVâresulting in an ultra-low loan-to-value ratio of approximately 13.3%.9
Little did anyone suspect that among these bondholders would be Peter Schiffâs Euro Pacific.
Enter the EuroPac International Bond Fund, a global bond mutual fund managed by Euro Pacific Asset Management â the firm founded and helmed by Peter Schiff10. Schiff, as an owning member of the advisor, has long shaped Euro Pacificâs strategy around his macro views (hard money, skepticism of the U.S. dollar, affinity for gold and foreign bonds)11. The EuroPac International Bond Fund typically holds a mix of sovereign and corporate debt from around the world, aligned with Schiffâs thesis that non-U.S. assets can protect against dollar debasement12. Itâs the last place one would expect to find anything related to Bitcoin. But thatâs exactly what turned up when the fundâs SEC filings were published this year.
In the fundâs Form N-PORT P disclosure (a mandatory SEC filing of portfolio holdings) covering late 2024, a curious line item appears: âSamara Asset Group PLCâ â identified by the very same ISIN (NO0013364398) of Samaraâs Bitcoin bond13. The filing shows EuroPacâs bond fund held âŹ800,000 principal value of Samaraâs Bitcoin bond, valued at roughly $870,000 USD, as of the reporting date14. That position represented about 1.58% of the fundâs net assets15. In plainer terms, Peter Schiffâs flagship bond fund became a financier of a bitcoin-backed enterprise, even as Schiff himself spent 2024 loudly bashing bitcoinâs rally.
To be clear, this holding was likely a small, yield-driven allocation made by the fundâs managers (Schiffâs team includes co-managers Jim Nelson, CFA, and Steve Kleckner, CAIA16). From a bond investorâs perspective, Samaraâs 10%+ coupon for a 5-year noteâsecured by a trove of tech investments and bitcoin reservesâmay have simply looked like an attractive high-yield opportunity. In fact, EuroPacâs International Bond Fund had a mandate to seek income in international markets, and 2024âs rising interest rates made double-digit coupons enticing. In all likelihood, this was a strategic bet on a strong yield, not an ideological about-face. But intentional or not, the irony is exquisite: Schiffâs fund indirectly hitched itself to bitcoinâs success. If bitcoin thrives and bolsters Samaraâs finances, EuroPacâs bond will be safer and its interest payments more secure. Conversely, a bitcoin crash would imperil the very issuer that EuroPac lent money to.
This revelationâthat Peter Schiff, Bitcoinâs arch-nemesis, has indirect exposure to bitcoin through his firmâs investmentsâis likely to spark both amusement and lively discussion within the bitcoin and crypto community. Given Schiffâs well-known stance, itâs easy to anticipate the inevitable jokes: Could Schiff be secretly âstacking satsâ? Will bitcoin and crypto Twitter soon have a field day pointing out the irony of Schiff inadvertently backing Bitcoin?
For years, Schiff has lambasted bitcoin as having âno intrinsic valueâ and repeatedly predicted its inevitable collapse. Even when bitcoin crossed $100,000 in December, Schiff dismissed the milestone, tweeting that it only occurred due to âbuying off politicians and getting in bed with government,â and insisted the rally would soon end17.
While Schiff himself may not have been directly involved in the decision to purchase the Samara Bitcoin bondâsuch allocations often reflect pragmatic yield strategies by fund managers rather than ideological shiftsâthe symbolic impact remains significant. Bitcoin, the decentralized asset Schiff promised never to own, now quietly forms part of his firmâs portfolio, underscoring how market incentives can override even deeply-held beliefs.
Ultimately, this exclusive discovery highlights a broader narrative: Bitcoinâs gravitational pull in traditional finance has become so strong that even its most outspoken critics can find themselves indirectly aligned with its success.
This highlights a broader truth in todayâs markets. As Bitcoin matures and integrates into global finance, it is blurring lines and forcing strange bedfellows. Weâve seen big banks that once shunned crypto start offering bitcoin custody, and hedge fund titans who called Bitcoin a scam later allocate to it. But Peter Schiffâs case is perhaps the most ironic to date â the gold bug inadvertently backing a Bitcoin bond is one for the history books. It shows that pragmatism often wins out: if a Bitcoin-related instrument can deliver returns, even a fund led by Bitcoinâs biggest naysayer will buy in.
For the Bitcoin-savvy crowd, thereâs a sweet satisfaction in seeing Schiffâs anti-BTC purism quietly upended. It reinforces the meme that âBitcoin doesnât careâ â it will convert anyone eventually, willingly or otherwise.
To be fair, Schiff remains as anti-Bitcoin as ever in his public commentary. But the facts speak for themselves: Thanks to the EuroPac International Bond Fundâs holdings, Peter Schiff now has exposure to Bitcoinâs upside (and downside) through Samaraâs bond18. The next time he tweets about Bitcoin being worthless, hodlers can smile knowing that even Schiffâs own products are, in a roundabout way, tied to the fate of digital gold.
EuroPac Fund indirect Bitcoin exposure confirmed via Samara Bond holding, December 2024, PublicNow.
This post Peter Schiffâs Bitcoin Bond Secret: The Gold Bug Caught Holding âDigital Goldâ first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Allen Helm.
Full story here:
Peter Schiffâs Bitcoin Bond Secret: The Gold Bug Caught Holding âDigital Goldâ
Peter Schiff has built a career on deriding Bitcoin. The outspoken gold evangelist and fund manager famously scoffed in 2019, âKeep dreaming. Bitcoin is never going to hit $100,000!â1. To Schiff, the worldâs largest cryptocurrency has long been nothing but âdigital foolâs goldâ â a speculative bubble destined to pop, or as he put it in 2023, âstill going to zeroâŠjust traveling a long roadâ2. Yet in a twist laced with irony, recent disclosures reveal that Schiffâs own asset management arm quietly gained exposure to a bitcoin-backed bond late last year. In other words, the man who equated bitcoin with tulip mania now finds his firm unwittingly invested in a bond powered by the very asset he loves to hate.
The Bitcoin Bond Nobody Expected
The instrument in question is a bitcoin treasury bond issued by Samara Asset Group p.l.c., a publicly traded European asset manager (formerly known as Cryptology Asset Group). In November 2024, Samara successfully issued what it calls âEuropeâs first-ever Bitcoin Bond,â raising âŹ20 million to expand its portfolio and significantly increase its bitcoin treasury holdings.3 The bond (ISIN: NO0013364398) is structured as a 5-year senior secured note maturing in 2029, offering a substantial 10.062% annual coupon.4 Additionally, the bond includes an innovative incentive: bondholders receive an extra 0.25% premium on principal for every âŹ0.25 increase in Samaraâs Net Asset Value (NAV) per share, closely aligning bondholder interests with shareholders.
Samaraâs CEO Patrick Lowry described the issuance enthusiastically, noting it was âthe very first time in history a European firm has taken a page out of the âMichael Saylor playbook,â issuing a bond explicitly with the intent to acquire bitcoin.â5 Indeed, within weeks of the bond issuance, Samara utilized the proceeds to purchase approximately 76 BTC for its treasury and invested in several crypto-focused venture funds.6
The bondâs backstory reads like pure rocket fuel for institutional Bitcoin enthusiasts. Announced in October 2024 amid rising BTC prices, the Samara Bitcoin Bond was designed to leverage bitcoin as a strategic treasury reserve asset. Samara positioned it as a win-win proposition: investors would enjoy a high yield coupled with additional NAV-based upside, while Samara could allocate capital into Bitcoin and pioneering tech investments.7 By early November, the bond had successfully closed its private placement at âŹ20 million (minimum investment ticket: âŹ100k) and is expected to be publicly listed for trading on the Oslo and Frankfurt exchanges within one to two weeks.8 Notably, this bond is secured by an overcollateralized portfolio comprising a âŹ150 million basket of Samaraâs venture investments, locked securely within a guarantor SPVâresulting in an ultra-low loan-to-value ratio of approximately 13.3%.9
Little did anyone suspect that among these bondholders would be Peter Schiffâs Euro Pacific.
Euro Pacificâs Hidden Bitcoin Bet
Enter the EuroPac International Bond Fund, a global bond mutual fund managed by Euro Pacific Asset Management â the firm founded and helmed by Peter Schiff10. Schiff, as an owning member of the advisor, has long shaped Euro Pacificâs strategy around his macro views (hard money, skepticism of the U.S. dollar, affinity for gold and foreign bonds)11. The EuroPac International Bond Fund typically holds a mix of sovereign and corporate debt from around the world, aligned with Schiffâs thesis that non-U.S. assets can protect against dollar debasement12. Itâs the last place one would expect to find anything related to Bitcoin. But thatâs exactly what turned up when the fundâs SEC filings were published this year.
In the fundâs Form N-PORT P disclosure (a mandatory SEC filing of portfolio holdings) covering late 2024, a curious line item appears: âSamara Asset Group PLCâ â identified by the very same ISIN (NO0013364398) of Samaraâs Bitcoin bond13. The filing shows EuroPacâs bond fund held âŹ800,000 principal value of Samaraâs Bitcoin bond, valued at roughly $870,000 USD, as of the reporting date14. That position represented about 1.58% of the fundâs net assets15. In plainer terms, Peter Schiffâs flagship bond fund became a financier of a bitcoin-backed enterprise, even as Schiff himself spent 2024 loudly bashing bitcoinâs rally.
To be clear, this holding was likely a small, yield-driven allocation made by the fundâs managers (Schiffâs team includes co-managers Jim Nelson, CFA, and Steve Kleckner, CAIA16). From a bond investorâs perspective, Samaraâs 10%+ coupon for a 5-year noteâsecured by a trove of tech investments and bitcoin reservesâmay have simply looked like an attractive high-yield opportunity. In fact, EuroPacâs International Bond Fund had a mandate to seek income in international markets, and 2024âs rising interest rates made double-digit coupons enticing. In all likelihood, this was a strategic bet on a strong yield, not an ideological about-face. But intentional or not, the irony is exquisite: Schiffâs fund indirectly hitched itself to bitcoinâs success. If bitcoin thrives and bolsters Samaraâs finances, EuroPacâs bond will be safer and its interest payments more secure. Conversely, a bitcoin crash would imperil the very issuer that EuroPac lent money to.
Irony, Hypocrisy, or Just Business?
This revelationâthat Peter Schiff, Bitcoinâs arch-nemesis, has indirect exposure to bitcoin through his firmâs investmentsâis likely to spark both amusement and lively discussion within the bitcoin and crypto community. Given Schiffâs well-known stance, itâs easy to anticipate the inevitable jokes: Could Schiff be secretly âstacking satsâ? Will bitcoin and crypto Twitter soon have a field day pointing out the irony of Schiff inadvertently backing Bitcoin?
For years, Schiff has lambasted bitcoin as having âno intrinsic valueâ and repeatedly predicted its inevitable collapse. Even when bitcoin crossed $100,000 in December, Schiff dismissed the milestone, tweeting that it only occurred due to âbuying off politicians and getting in bed with government,â and insisted the rally would soon end17.
While Schiff himself may not have been directly involved in the decision to purchase the Samara Bitcoin bondâsuch allocations often reflect pragmatic yield strategies by fund managers rather than ideological shiftsâthe symbolic impact remains significant. Bitcoin, the decentralized asset Schiff promised never to own, now quietly forms part of his firmâs portfolio, underscoring how market incentives can override even deeply-held beliefs.
Ultimately, this exclusive discovery highlights a broader narrative: Bitcoinâs gravitational pull in traditional finance has become so strong that even its most outspoken critics can find themselves indirectly aligned with its success.
When Ideology Meets Reality
This highlights a broader truth in todayâs markets. As Bitcoin matures and integrates into global finance, it is blurring lines and forcing strange bedfellows. Weâve seen big banks that once shunned crypto start offering bitcoin custody, and hedge fund titans who called Bitcoin a scam later allocate to it. But Peter Schiffâs case is perhaps the most ironic to date â the gold bug inadvertently backing a Bitcoin bond is one for the history books. It shows that pragmatism often wins out: if a Bitcoin-related instrument can deliver returns, even a fund led by Bitcoinâs biggest naysayer will buy in.
For the Bitcoin-savvy crowd, thereâs a sweet satisfaction in seeing Schiffâs anti-BTC purism quietly upended. It reinforces the meme that âBitcoin doesnât careâ â it will convert anyone eventually, willingly or otherwise.
To be fair, Schiff remains as anti-Bitcoin as ever in his public commentary. But the facts speak for themselves: Thanks to the EuroPac International Bond Fundâs holdings, Peter Schiff now has exposure to Bitcoinâs upside (and downside) through Samaraâs bond18. The next time he tweets about Bitcoin being worthless, hodlers can smile knowing that even Schiffâs own products are, in a roundabout way, tied to the fate of digital gold.
Endnotes:
- Peter Schiff quoted in CryptoPotato: âKeep dreaming. Bitcoin is never going to hit $100,000!â September 30, 2019, CryptoPotato.
- Peter Schiff quoted in Crypto News: Bitcoin described as âdigital foolâs goldâ and âstill going to zeroâŠjust traveling a long road,â March 26, 2023, Crypto News.
- Samara Asset Group Press Release: âEuropeâs first-ever Bitcoin Bond,â December 6, 2024, Samara Asset Group.
- Samara Bitcoin Bond details: 5-year senior secured note, 10.062% annual coupon, ISIN NO0013364398, Business Insider Markets.
- Patrick Lowry (CEO, Samara): First European firm using âMichael Saylor playbook,â December 6, 2024, Samara Asset Group.
- Samara Asset Group invested bond proceeds into 76 BTC and venture funds, December 2024, Samara Asset Group.
- Samara Bitcoin Bond designed to leverage Bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset, October 2024, Samara Asset Group.
- Samara Bond private placement closed (âŹ20 million), listed Oslo and Frankfurt, November 2024, Samara Asset Group; Business Insider Markets.
- Samara Bond collateral details: overcollateralized âŹ150 million portfolio, 13.3% LTV, November 2024, Samara Asset Group.
- Euro Pacific Asset Management, managed by Peter Schiff, Fund Fact Sheet, September 30, 2024, EPC Advisors Group.
- Peter Schiffâs macroeconomic strategy for Euro Pacific Asset Management, September 2024, EPC Advisors Group.
- EuroPac International Bond Fund investment thesis, September 30, 2024, EPC Advisors Group.
- SEC filing (Form N-PORT P), EuroPac Fund holding Samara Bitcoin Bond, December 2024, PublicNow.
- EuroPac Fund holds âŹ800,000 principal in Samara Bitcoin Bond, valued ~$870,000 USD, December 2024, PublicNow.
- EuroPac holding in Samara Bond represented 1.58% of net assets, December 2024, PublicNow.
- EuroPac Fund co-managers: Jim Nelson (CFA), Steve Kleckner (CAIA), September 2024, EPC Advisors Group.
- Schiff reaction tweet to Bitcoin hitting $100,000, December 2024, Benzinga.
EuroPac Fund indirect Bitcoin exposure confirmed via Samara Bond holding, December 2024, PublicNow.
This post Peter Schiffâs Bitcoin Bond Secret: The Gold Bug Caught Holding âDigital Goldâ first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Allen Helm.
Full story here:
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