The Gold Bug Caught Holding ‘Digital Gold’

Peter Schiff has built a career on deriding Bitcoin. The outspoken gold evangelist and fund manager famously scoffed in 2019, “Keep dreaming. Bitcoin is never going to hit $100,000!”¹. To Schiff, the world’s largest cryptocurrency has long been nothing but “digital fool’s gold” – a speculative bubble destined to pop, or as he put it in 2023, “still going to zero…just traveling a long road”². Yet in a twist laced with irony, recent disclosures reveal that Schiff’s 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 “Europe’s first-ever Bitcoin Bond,” raising €20 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 €0.25 increase in Samara’s Net Asset Value (NAV) per share, closely aligning bondholder interests with shareholders.

Samara’s CEO Patrick Lowry described the issuance enthusiastically, noting it was “the very first time in history a European firm has taken a page out of the ‘Michael Saylor playbook,’ issuing a bond explicitly with the intent to acquire bitcoin.”⁵ 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 bond’s 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 €20 million (minimum investment ticket: €100k) 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 €150 million basket of Samara’s venture investments, locked securely within a guarantor SPV—resulting in an ultra-low loan-to-value ratio of approximately 13.3%.⁹

Little did anyone suspect that among these bondholders would be Peter Schiff’s Euro Pacific.

Euro Pacific’s Hidden Bitcoin Bet

Enter the EuroPac International Bond Fund, a global bond mutual fund managed by Euro Pacific Asset Management – the firm founded and helmed by Peter Schiff¹⁰. Schiff, as an owning member of the advisor, has long shaped Euro Pacific’s 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 Schiff’s thesis that non-U.S. assets can protect against dollar debasement¹². It’s the last place one would expect to find anything related to Bitcoin. But that’s exactly what turned up when the fund’s SEC filings were published this year.

In the fund’s Form N-PORT P disclosure (a mandatory SEC filing of portfolio holdings) covering late 2024, a curious line item appears: “Samara Asset Group PLC” – identified by the very same ISIN (NO0013364398) of Samara’s Bitcoin bond¹³. The filing shows EuroPac’s bond fund held €800,000 principal value of Samara’s Bitcoin bond, valued at roughly $870,000 USD, as of the reporting date¹⁴. That position represented about 1.58% of the fund’s net assets¹⁵. In plainer terms, Peter Schiff’s flagship bond fund became a financier of a bitcoin-backed enterprise, even as Schiff himself spent 2024 loudly bashing bitcoin’s rally.

To be clear, this holding was likely a small, yield-driven allocation made by the fund’s managers (Schiff’s team includes co-managers Jim Nelson, CFA, and Steve Kleckner, CAIA¹⁶). From a bond investor’s perspective, Samara’s 10%+ coupon for a 5-year note—secured by a trove of tech investments and bitcoin reserves—may have simply looked like an attractive high-yield opportunity. In fact, EuroPac’s International Bond Fund had a mandate to seek income in international markets, and 2024’s 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: Schiff’s fund indirectly hitched itself to bitcoin’s success. If bitcoin thrives and bolsters Samara’s finances, EuroPac’s 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 revelation—that Peter Schiff, Bitcoin’s arch-nemesis, has indirect exposure to bitcoin through his firm’s investments—is likely to spark both amusement and lively discussion within the bitcoin and crypto community. Given Schiff’s well-known stance, it’s easy to anticipate the inevitable jokes: Could Schiff be secretly “stacking sats”? 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 “no intrinsic value” 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 “buying off politicians and getting in bed with government,” and insisted the rally would soon end¹⁷.

While Schiff himself may not have been directly involved in the decision to purchase the Samara Bitcoin bond—such allocations often reflect pragmatic yield strategies by fund managers rather than ideological shifts—the symbolic impact remains significant. Bitcoin, the decentralized asset Schiff promised never to own, now quietly forms part of his firm’s portfolio, underscoring how market incentives can override even deeply-held beliefs.

Ultimately, this exclusive discovery highlights a broader narrative: Bitcoin’s 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 today’s markets. As Bitcoin matures and integrates into global finance, it is blurring lines and forcing strange bedfellows. We’ve 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 Schiff’s case is perhaps the most ironic to date – 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 Bitcoin’s biggest naysayer will buy in.

For the Bitcoin-savvy crowd, there’s a sweet satisfaction in seeing Schiff’s anti-BTC purism quietly upended. It reinforces the meme that “Bitcoin doesn’t care” – 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 Fund’s holdings, Peter Schiff now has exposure to Bitcoin’s upside (and downside) through Samara’s bond¹⁸. The next time he tweets about Bitcoin being worthless, hodlers can smile knowing that even Schiff’s own products are, in a roundabout way, tied to the fate of digital gold.

Endnotes:

Peter Schiff quoted in CryptoPotato: “Keep dreaming. Bitcoin is never going to hit $100,000!” September 30, 2019, CryptoPotato.
Peter Schiff quoted in Crypto News: Bitcoin described as “digital fool’s gold” and “still going to zero…just traveling a long road,” March 26, 2023, Crypto News.
Samara Asset Group Press Release: “Europe’s first-ever Bitcoin Bond,” 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 “Michael Saylor playbook,” 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 (€20 million), listed Oslo and Frankfurt, November 2024, Samara Asset Group; Business Insider Markets.
Samara Bond collateral details: overcollateralized €150 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 Schiff’s 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 €800,000 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.