Zero-dollar Bitcoin? A growing narrative is bubbling up
Skeptics say ‘Zero-Dollar Bitcoin’ as a new selloff revives brutal questions about utility, cash flows, and whether confidence alone can sustain its price/
Summary
- Commentators Buck Sexton and Richard Farr argue Bitcoin has no long-term value, no “fundamental floor,” and has failed as either money or a hedge.
- Critics frame Bitcoin as a reflexive high-beta tech proxy whose value depends on flows and belief, not cash flows or enforceable claims on real assets.
- The debate intensifies as BTC trades near the low-70k region alongside choppy ETH and SOL markets, underscoring crypto’s sensitivity to macro risk-off shocks.
Bitcoin’s (BTC) latest drawdown has revived an old, brutal question: could the world’s largest cryptocurrency ultimately be worth nothing? As prices slide and faith wobbles, a “Bitcoin to $0” thesis is again echoing through markets and media.
Zero‑dollar thesis resurfaces
The spark this week came from conservative commentator Buck Sexton, who wrote that “every time I ask a Bitcoin true believer to explain why they think it has any long-term value… I come away more certain that Bitcoin has no long-term value, and a floor price of zero.” His post went viral after Bitcoin tumbled more than 20% over the past week, amplifying a bearish narrative that critics have pushed for years. The core claim is simple: in a full confidence crisis, an asset with no cash flows and no legal claim on anything tangible has “no ‘fundamental floor.’”
Richard Farr, chief market strategist at Pivotus Partners, put it more bluntly, saying his firm’s Bitcoin target is “$0.0,” arguing it has “failed as a hedge against the dollar,” tracks high‑beta tech, and has not gained real traction as money. “The miners (who are the network) are bleeding cash,” Farr wrote. “We think it’s a zero.”
Belief versus utility
Long‑time antagonist Peter Schiff again contrasted Bitcoin with gold, insisting that “Bitcoin’s value is purely subjective, as it has no utility beyond belief.” “Bitcoin can’t do anything. That’s the problem,” he added. “Yes you can store and transfer your Bitcoin, but beyond that you can’t do anything with it.” That critique dovetails with academic warnings that non‑yielding assets are ultimately hostage to reflexive flows, a point underscored during previous deleveraging waves in 2018 and 2022.
Yet the ferocity of the latest backlash also reflects how over‑financialized the asset has become, tethered to macro risk cycles and ETF flows rather than cypherpunk ideals. Sexton himself argued that the “anger” from online advocates is part of the problem, eroding mainstream credibility just as regulators and traditional finance are demanding more discipline.
Market snapshot
The debate comes as digital assets grind through another risk‑off stretch. Bitcoin (BTC) trades near $70,961, up roughly 2.4% over the last 24 hours on about $42.3b in volume. Ethereum (ETH) changes hands around $2,094, up about 0.65% over the same period, with spot and futures turnover exceeding $50b. Solana (SOL) sits close to $86.6, down roughly 1.4% on the day, with more than $6.1b traded.
These skittish flows mirror broader macro anxiety, from tightening financial conditions to renewed equity volatility, that has historically pressured high‑beta crypto assets. For now, the “zero” narrative is less a precise price target than a stress test of Bitcoin’s maturing, yet still fragile, social contract.
Related coverage: Bitcoin’s correlation with tech stocks has repeatedly spiked during risk‑off shocks, challenging the “digital gold” hedge story. Ethereum’s evolving fee and burn dynamics highlight how protocol cash‑flow narratives can bolster perceived intrinsic value. Solana’s outsized rally and sharp pullbacks underline how execution risk and network outages still shape the market’s tolerance for speculative layer‑1 bets.
