In a recent interview with the ETF Think Tank, Michael Saylor explained why his company buys Bitcoin directly, holds it in custody and does not lend it. The CEO of software intelligence company MicroStrategy also said that people underestimate Bitcoin and overestimate everything else in the blockchain and cryptocurrency industries.
Saylor is known for his clear handling of Bitcoin – Buy and Hold. However, given the uprising of many platforms offering the opportunity to earn interest on BTC, he was asked why MicroStrategy hadn’t borrowed any of its Bitcoin holdings, and replied that the single-digit return that can be made is not worth the added risk is .
“I think the counterparty risk is great; there is a regulatory problem, there is an audit, and there is a legal and accounting problem,” said Saylor, citing the extra work and risk that Bitcoin lending puts on his company would bring. “So the point is really, you are taking 100 times the risk and it’s 10 times the complicated – getting 5% more [per year]. “
One interesting side benefit that Saylor’s company has experienced from holding Bitcoin has to do with brand awareness. According to him, the decision to buy Bitcoin over a year ago increased MicroStrategy’s brand awareness by a factor of 100.
“Bitcoin is one of the most disruptive, if not the most disruptive technologies of the decade, and it’s disrupting the energy industry, the investment community, the technology community,” said Saylor. “That means it messes up politics and economics in general. It gets people’s attention and is progressive and people-focused.”
But investors in the blockchain sector are currently lacking real focus, said Saylor. Since people are becoming fond of the “crypto novelty”, which is being promoted by strong marketing by the founding teams, less energy is devoted to Bitcoin.
“I think it’s pretty important to understand that Bitcoin is pretty much the most predictable in the entire blockchain universe, everything else is uncertain,” added Saylor. “There are massive technical, security, legal, and execution uncertainties. Therefore, in my opinion, people overestimate the certainty of the value of everything else and underestimate the value of Bitcoin.”
With that in mind, many people often criticize Michael Saylor and MicroStrategy for focusing only on Bitcoin and allegedly rejecting other projects based on a blockchain. But the software company’s CEO said Bitcoin is the true diversifier that allows its owners to diversify from the traditional economy.
“I think when you get into the blockchain space there is just a huge pile of risks,” said Saylor. “So I think people usually underestimate all of the risks of not buying Bitcoin and they are underexposed. The value is not in trading 250 or 500 different crypto coins. The value is in sipping $ 50 trillion from bonds in Bitcoin and $ 50. to slurp trillion dollars or $ 100 trillion off real estate. People … should be more exposed to Bitcoin and less exposed to everything else in the world. “
According to the CEO of MicroStrategy, a laser focus on Bitcoin shouldn’t just be left to technology and fintech companies. Saylor added that the problems of every business and government on the planet could be solved if they bought Bitcoin.
“When El Salvador, Cuba, Turkey, Japan, Russia, the United States, Great Britain or France buy Bitcoin, they correct their balance sheet,” said Saylor. “Every company on earth fixes its balance sheet when it buys Bitcoin. So Bitcoin is the solution for hundreds of thousands of companies.”
And when it comes to individuals, Bitcoin is the answer too. Saylor stated, “If you are a saver and have been thinking about buying land or gold or some other very scarce asset for 100 years, digital ownership in the form of bitcoin is by far the best idea we have this century.”
