MicroStrategy executive chairman and self-described Bitcoin ‘maximalist’ Michael Saylor discusses what it will take for more companies and governments to adopt Bitcoin.
MicroStrategy executive chairman and self-described Bitcoin maximalist, Michael Saylor, says cryptocurrency is the next invention to revolutionise economies, like fire, steel and electricity.
“What is Bitcoin? It’s clean, silent, programmable, immortal money,” Saylor told Markets with Madison in Washington DC.
“It won’t cure your cancer and it won’t make you happy and it won’t solve your mental problems and it won’t make your children love you. [But] it’s economic energy.”
Saylor owns more than 17,000 Bitcoin, worth more than US$1.1 billion (NZ$1.8b).
His company MicroStrategy owns more than US$16b worth, making it the world’s largest corporate holder of Bitcoin.
“Each of these energy revolutions, it was a shocking, scary paradigm shift and for 30 years people rejected it, and for good reason, their city burned down or their houses burned down and they got electrocuted.”
It had been 15 years since pseudonymous Satoshi Nakomoto invented Bitcoin - a peer-to-peer electronic cash system with a capped supply and expected deflation rate, that was not issued or controlled by a central bank.
“I can hold it for a million years and I’m not facing counter-party risk to a bank, a country, a corporation, a culture [or] a commodity manufacturer,” Saylor said.
Bitcoin is "economic energy" that has the potential to revolutionise economies, according to Michael Saylor. Image / 123rf
However, Saylor believed certified banks agreeing to accept Bitcoin in savings accounts or as collateral for lending, would be the asset’s next big moment.
“If you want to see all the people with money and power in the world embrace the asset, they will do it when their vendors support the asset. That’s a rippling thing.”
Watch Michael Saylor discuss Bitcoin and what could be its next big moment, in today’s episode of Markets with Madison above.
Get investment insights from executives and experts on Markets with Madison every Monday and Friday here on the NZ Herald, on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Disclaimer: The information provided in this programme is of a general nature, and is not intended to be personalised financial advice. We encourage you to seek appropriate advice from a qualified professional to suit your individual circumstances.
Madison Reidy is the host and executive producer of the NZ Herald’s investment show Markets with Madison. She joined the Herald in 2022 after working in investment, and has covered business and economics for television and radio broadcasters.
