U.Today – It’s not every day that the CEO of a major cryptocurrency exchange and a vocal critic find themselves at odds, but here we are. Brian Armstrong, head of Coinbase (NASDAQ 🙂 , recently pointed out a problem that is both a blessing and a curse for the crypto industry: the sheer volume of new tokens being created.
With around 1 million tokens emerging each week, Armstrong argued that the current system of rating each one individually is no longer feasible.
Instead, he suggested moving from a “whitelist” to a “blocklist,” relying on customer reviews and automated on-chain data scanning to help users cut through the noise. It also hinted at deeper integration with decentralized exchanges (DEX), with the goal of making the trading experience seamless, regardless of whether it happens on a centralized or decentralized platform.
Proof of work? Nothing more than a hole in the ground
Enter Peter Schiff, a gold advocate and cryptocurrency skeptic who never misses an opportunity to question the value of digital assets. Schiff’s response to Armstrong’s comments was characteristically blunt.
He focused on and questioned the idea of ”limited supply,” the cornerstone of Bitcoin’s value proposition. With so many tokens flooding the market, Schiff argued that the inflation rate of digital assets is actually “off the charts.”
He didn’t stop there, however, and took aim at Bitcoin’s proof-of-work mechanism, the process by which new coins are created and transactions are verified. For him, proof of work is a flawed concept.
Schiff likened it to spending $10,000 to dig a hole and then refill it — energy is wasted but nothing of value is created. While Bitcoin enthusiasts often praise the energy-intensive process as a feature, gold advocates see it as a flaw.
Energy is consumed, yes, but not stored or converted into anything useful. Bitcoin, he argued, is not a battery; it does not hold energy that can be used later.
