The Evangelist

Michael Saylor

MICHAEL SAYLOR

Michael Saylor is a Bitcoin maximalist. He owns more than 2% of the entire bitcoin supply.

As cofounder and chairman of publicly traded tech company MicroStrategy (MSTR) Saylor has been purchasing record amounts of bitcoin adding value to MicroStrategy's balance sheet. He sees Bitcoin not as a currency but a long-term asset—digital capital, digital gold.

"Buy bitcoin, don't sell bitcoin,'" explains Saylor during an interview with Yahoo Finance. "If you have money that you don't need for four years, or even better 10 years, put it in a portfolio where you hold scarce desirable real estate or your favorite artwork. Expect to keep it there for a decade or longer, and don't get too worked up over the volatility."

As red-laser-eyes beamed, Bitcoin topped 100K on December 5th. The milestone marked the market's elation over President Trump’s nomination of Paul Atkins to run the SEC, as well as Trump's announcement that America will be "the crypto capital of the world."

Since then, Trump has nominated former PayPal executive David Sacks as AI & Crypto Czar and several individuals who will have advisory roles on the "Crypto Council." The industry's wide-ranging assumption is that minimal legislation and pro-innovation policies will follow.

The shifting crypto landscape includes Trump's plan to establish a national bitcoin reserve, a U.S. stockpile of bitcoin similar to the U.S.'s strategic petroleum reserve. A bill titled "BITCOIN Act of 2024" has been introduced by Senator Cynthia Lummis and calls for purchasing "not more than 200,000 bitcoins per year over a 5-year period for a total acquisition of 1,000,000."

Saylor, a supporter of a strategic bitcoin reserve, suggests that the U.S. should sell all of its gold reserves to buy bitcoins for the new reserve. Speaking with Yahoo Finance Saylor says:

"The very simple idea is to buy 20 or 25% of the Bitcoin network on behalf of the U.S. government and catalyze the development." Adding he says, "If you want to put a great twist on it, dump your gold, sell all the US gold and buy Bitcoin." Continuing he states: "You will demonetize the entire gold asset class. Our enemies hold gold in their banks so their assets would go to zero, and our assets would go to 100 trillion."

Saylor's recommendation to dump gold and buy bitcoin is just one idea that's aligned with his recent proposal, "Digital Assets Framework, Principles, and Opportunity for the United States.”

The proposal categorizes digital asset classes (commodity, security, currency, token, NFT and ABT); itemizes rights and responsibilities for issuers, exchanges and owners; and outlines practical compliance obligations.

When writing about the strategic bitcoin reserve, Saylor states that one of the objectives is to "establish a Bitcoin reserve capable of creating $16-81 trillion in wealth for the US Treasury, providing a pathway to offset national debt."

Saylor, like other charismatic and intelligent business mavericks who advocate for next-level change, has his critics. Financial commentator Peter Schiff has called him “The Egg Man,” due to his strategy of consistently buying Bitcoin which in turn raises valuation. And George Selgin, an economist from Cato Institute’s Center for Monetary and Financial Alternative, has criticized the national bitcoin reserve proposal, tartly commenting on X: “What tripe.” In an Mercatus Center podcast, Selgin states:

"It will have one predictable consequence; it will boost the demand for Bitcoin," says Selgin. "It's taking about a fifth out of circulation, and that will boost the price of Bitcoin, which is, of course, the real reason, I must say, why the Bitcoiners are so enthusiastic about it. "

To date, Michael Saylor’s company MicroStrategy owns 446,400 bitcoins with a total cost of $23.41 billion, and he vows that he'll continue to buy bitcoin at the top. He also vows that he’ll destroy his bitcoin keys when he passes away. “I’m a single guy, I have no children, when I’m gone, I’m gone. Just like Satoshi left a million Bitcoin to the universe so I’m leaving whatever I’ve got to the civilization.”

Saylor has stated: