According to a report by The Block, in a recent interview with analysts at Bernstein, MicroStrategy’s Co-Founder and Executive Chairman, Michael Saylor, laid out the company’s ambitious vision of becoming the world’s leading bitcoin bank. Since 2020, MicroStrategy has aggressively acquired Bitcoin, leveraging debt and equity to maximize returns. As of September 2024, the company held 252,220 BTC, valued at over $15 billion, making it the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin globally. With a total acquisition cost of approximately $9.9 billion and $4 billion in debt, MicroStrategy owns roughly 1.2% of Bitcoin’s total supply.
Saylor explained that Bitcoin is a revolutionary form of digital capital, offering a hedge against inflation and long-term value storage. He described Bitcoin as the top-performing asset of the 21st century and emphasized its volatility, which he believes attracts investors seeking high returns. According to Saylor, MicroStrategy’s endgame is to create a bitcoin-driven financial powerhouse, or “bitcoin bank,” that offers bitcoin capital market instruments across equity, convertibles, fixed income, and preferred shares.
Saylor believes that as Bitcoin grows in prominence, MicroStrategy could eventually hold hundreds of billions of dollars in Bitcoin and create a trillion-dollar company. He predicted that bitcoin could reach $13 million per coin by 2045, representing 7% of global financial capital. The firm’s strategy hinges on raising capital through debt, equity, and other instruments in U.S. capital markets, with Saylor believing that the firm’s debt strategy is “infinitely scalable.”
Rather than lending out its bitcoin holdings like traditional banks, MicroStrategy focuses on “lending to bitcoin” by investing in the cryptocurrency itself. Saylor explained that the company benefits from low-cost debt, which it can use to buy bitcoin and earn returns as high as 50% annually. He argued that lending to individuals, corporations, and governments poses more risk than investing in Bitcoin.
Saylor’s vision includes influencing other companies in the crypto ecosystem, such as miners and exchanges, to adopt Bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset. He cited firms like Marathon and Semler Scientific as examples of companies that have embraced this approach. Saylor predicts more companies will follow suit as the value of Bitcoin continues to rise and its importance in the global financial system grows.
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