Tucker Carlson Rejects Bitcoin Over Intelligence Claims

At Turning Point USA events, Tucker Carlson said he would not invest in Bitcoin, preferring gold, and suggested Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto may have ties to U.S. intelligence, calling the asset a potential “scam” that benefits financial elites. He argued programmable digital currencies create surveillance and political-control risks and said Bitcoin has not delivered on private, trustless transactions. Carlson pointed to roughly 1.096 million BTC tied to the Satoshi-linked wallet cluster (about $120 billion) to justify his skepticism. His remarks drew swift backlash from Bitcoin supporters and crypto commentators who said he misunderstood Bitcoin’s open-source, trustless design. Separately, economist Peter Schiff warned Bitcoin’s price could collapse if large existing holders sell en masse and reiterated his preference for gold. The debate unfolded as Bitcoin traded around $108,000 amid growing institutional adoption via ETFs and heightened public scrutiny.