Bitcoin
MicroStrategy’s Saylor Says First Country to Buy Bitcoin Issuing Currency ‘Wins’
Microstrategy Executive president Michael Saylor said that Bitcoin could help solve half of the world’s economic problems, especially for countries facing challenges related to rising national debt.
Saylor made the statement during his keynote address at the Bitcoin2024 conference, where he emphasized the transformative potential of Bitcoin and its role in reshaping the global economy with digital capital.
He said:
“The world as we know it is based on 20th century ideas and technology. If we are to thrive in the 21st century, we need new ideas based on new technologies.”
Saylor’s presentation included a discussion of the future value of Bitcoin. He projected that by 2045, Bitcoin could reach US$13 million per coinbased on a conservative annual growth rate.
He encouraged individuals, corporations, and nations to adopt Bitcoin as their primary treasury asset and use it for long-term capital preservation.
Nations and Bitcoin
Saylor advocated reallocating treasury reserves from gold and bonds to Bitcoin, issuing currency and debt to purchase Bitcoin, and enacting favorable laws to encourage Bitcoin ownership. He suggested that the first country to fully adopt Bitcoin could gain a significant economic advantage.
According to Saylor:
“The first country to buy Bitcoin by issuing its own currency wins.”
He explained how nations, especially those with significant debt, could use Bitcoin to solve their economic problems. He proposed a strategy where indebted countries could reallocate their treasury reserves from short-term assets like gold and bonds to Bitcoin, a long-term digital asset.
By doing so, these countries could leverage Bitcoin Growth Potential to pay off debts and even achieve economic prosperity. He outlined several strategies for nations to adopt Bitcoin, ranging from modest allocations to aggressive investments.
The “maxi” strategy involves putting one-third of a nation’s treasury into Bitcoin, while the “double maxi” strategy suggests a 65% allocation. The more aggressive approach, the “triple maxi” strategy, recommends putting all treasury assets into Bitcoin and issuing debt to acquire even more.
Saylor explained succinctly:
“The normie strategy is that you owe $3 trillion. You’re not getting anywhere. The maxi strategy pays off your debt. The double maxi strategy makes you rich. The triple maxi strategy makes you very rich. Why? Because you’re buying the property that everyone else is going to be racing to in 100 years and you’re just going to buy it now.”
Archaic systems
Saylor’s presentation highlighted the inefficiencies of the current financial system, which he described as slow and expensive. He noted that global wealth is estimated at $900 trillion, with Bitcoin accounting for just $1 trillion of that.
Saylor emphasized that the global economy’s reliance on outdated systems is detrimental to capital preservation, saying:
“The global economy is struggling because we are relying on imperfect assets and systems to store that capital. This is undermining our capital preservation.”
He discussed the concept of the “physics of money,” comparing energy to money or capital, and discussing the importance of the “lifespan” of money. He compared various assets, from currencies such as the Turkish lira and the US dollar to physical assets such as gold and real estate, highlighting their vulnerabilities to inflation, depreciation, and other factors.
In contrast, he portrayed Bitcoin as an “immortal, immutable, and immaterial” form of capital that offers a significantly longer lifespan and greater resilience.
According to Saylor:
“Bitcoin is digital capital. It has an infinite lifespan. It is not being attacked by the forces of climate, entropy and inflation. It solves the problem we are all facing.”