Original Author: Michael Saylor, Founder of Strategy
Original Translation: CryptoLeo, Odaily Planet Daily
Recently, Michael Saylor was interviewed by a CNBC reporter, where they discussed the rise of corporate Bitcoin reserves, the future of crypto policy, and a clear framework for digital commodities, securities, currencies, and tokens to promote industry development.
Odaily compiled it in a Q&A format, the full content is as follows
Q1: Welcome Saylor's presence. This week, many announcements have focused on corporate Bitcoin reserves, such as Gamestop announcing a $500 million Bitcoin holding, and Trump's media planning to establish a $2.5 billion Bitcoin treasury. What do you think of this new trend? Are they doing the right thing?
Saylor: There is no force in the world that can stop an idea whose time has come. The most surprising thing in the past few months has been the energy and enthusiasm surrounding corporate Bitcoin reserves. The announcement from Trump's media was unexpected; it is an extremely bold, proactive, and wise move. The announcement from Nakamoto Holdings (which merged with KindlyMD to build a Bitcoin reserve) was also surprising.
(Odaily Note: Nakamoto Holdings is a newly established company by Trump's cryptocurrency advisor David Bailey, planning to collaborate with BTC Inc. to create the world's first network of Bitcoin reserve companies.)
I remember telling David that if you believe in Bitcoin, you should raise a lot of money to buy Bitcoin. I provided an idea, and I was surprised that he actually did it; I am very happy. I think the announcements from SoftBank, Tether, and Twenty One Capital are also great, as they will bring a lot of SoftBank's capital into the Bitcoin market, just like bringing Masayoshi Son into crypto.
I think it’s fantastic that Tether supports a U.S. listed company. You should know that Metaplanet was previously just a $10 million company, and a few months ago it was only worth $1 billion, but in the last week or two, its market value has approached $4 billion or $5 billion, making it one of the most successful stocks. Additionally, the blockchain group in France has also risen rapidly, developing at an astonishing pace.
At this conference, no matter where I go, someone always mentions to me: I started a Bitcoin reserve company in Hong Kong, I am doing this project in South Korea, I have a project in Abu Dhabi, we are going to develop this business in the Middle East, we have this project in the UK, we are preparing to launch one in Kenya, we are going to launch one in Norway, and we are also doing this in Germany. I think this is amazing; it’s good for Bitcoin. Now Brazil's interest in Bitcoin is also exploding.
Each of these companies is bringing Bitcoin into another global capital market. They are solving compliance issues, capital market issues, registration issues, and political issues. They are all ambassadors of Bitcoin, planting orange flags around the world. The story always starts with a bold move. Then it becomes: "Wow, this is a very successful adventure; I have never made so much money. Tell me more about the Bitcoin story; how can I make this money?" Soon, a whole new generation of capitalists emerges, discovering that Bitcoin is digital capital, and perhaps this is the most explosive idea of our time.
Q2: What do you think about Wall Street's less positive reaction to the announcements from Trump's media and Gamestop? After Gamestop announced, its stock price rose by 17%, while Trump's media stock price fell by 22%. This seems contrary to the reaction of Strategy investors?
Saylor: You should know that when Gamestop announced it was considering adopting a Bitcoin strategy, its stock price soared by 50%, and the trading volume increased tenfold. Subsequently, they entered the market with this momentum and successfully issued $1.5 billion in convertible bonds, raising $1.5 billion, perhaps because the market hoped they would buy more Bitcoin.
So, I think Trump's media is facing a huge financing amount, a large part of which is convertible bonds. It is important to note that when you sell convertible bonds, 70% of the bond's face value is shorted as stock. Therefore, convertible arbitrageurs will always hedge stocks against bonds, one long and one short. For example, in the short term, if a company announces a $1 billion secondary stock offering, the stock will drop; all these situations are short-term dynamics within a long-term trend.
It turns out that Bitcoin on the balance sheet is very popular, driving liquidity growth for similar companies. For example, it has increased Gamestop's liquidity and will also boost the liquidity and earnings of other companies. This may take three months, six months, or sometimes even a year. But this strategy is very reasonable, and all these companies will benefit from it.
Q3: You were the first to adopt Bitcoin reserves, and Strategy's balance sheet holds $62 billion worth of Bitcoin. Do you have a limit on the amount of Bitcoin you hold? Or do you have a fixed expected value?
Saylor: No, we will continue to buy Bitcoin. We expect the price of Bitcoin to continue to rise, so buying Bitcoin will become increasingly difficult, but our efficiency in purchasing Bitcoin will increase exponentially. You should know that in the past, we thought raising $200 million was a challenge, then we thought raising $2 billion was a challenge. And in the fourth quarter, we will raise $21 billion. So we will get better and better; the price and value of Bitcoin are ten times higher than when we started this journey, and the ecosystem is continuously growing.
But I think Strategy is very simple; it’s about issuing credit instruments like preferred stock, providing dollar returns, or issuing a portion of Bitcoin's upside while providing some downside protection. People will buy stocks, stock derivatives, or options because they want higher leverage on Bitcoin; people will buy preferred stock because they want lower volatility, lower risk, and lower leverage with guaranteed returns. We will balance both aspects, and as the ecosystem expands, there is no reason this model cannot continue to scale.
Q4: The executive order to create a strategic Bitcoin reserve effectively tasked the Treasury and Commerce Departments with finding budget-neutral ways to purchase Bitcoin. Are you advising White House cabinet members, or do you have some suggestions for their approach?
Saylor: I think we have an amazing cabinet, with many Bitcoin supporters and many good ideas. The Bitcoin Policy Institute has proposed a lot, and cabinet members have also mentioned quite a bit. Deciding what the U.S. government will do and when to do it is beyond my authority, but I do believe the U.S. has a fantastic opportunity. If I were to advise the U.S., I would say that all the funds in the world will flow into cyberspace, into the Bitcoin network. Before the rest of the world realizes this trend, the U.S. should own as much of it as possible, which is in the best interest of the U.S.
Q5: I am curious whether the fundamental idea of Bitcoin has undergone a fundamental change. In the past, people believed that Bitcoin should not be tied to any government or central bank, but now we see the U.S. expressing this desire to become the cryptocurrency capital, hoping that all mining activities will be concentrated in the U.S. Does this undermine Bitcoin's original positioning?
Saylor: If these governments now want to hoard Bitcoin, I think this reflects very healthy competition. Therefore, when the U.S. expresses support for Bitcoin, Pakistan announces the establishment of a strategic Bitcoin reserve, which encourages the UAE and the Middle East to start accumulating Bitcoin as well. The adoption of Bitcoin is accelerating in Brazil and Mexico, and companies are starting to take action. New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced on stage that he intends to issue Bitcoin municipal bonds for New York City, which will inspire Miami, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. You should know that this is healthy competition. There are enough resources for everyone; the Bitcoin network is very anti-fragile. This balance of power is formed because the more participants enter the ecosystem, the more diverse and decentralized the protocols become, making them harder to corrupt and stronger. This means it becomes more trustworthy for large economic entities that were originally worried about betting all their economic power on Bitcoin.
Q6: President Trump's meme coin TRUMP has sparked much controversy. Many believe this undermines the progress made on several cryptocurrency bills in Congress, which are now stalled, with Senate Democrats particularly mentioning TRUMP. What do you think about this situation?
Saylor: I believe that for the crypto economy, the crypto industry, and if the U.S. wants to build a $100 trillion digital industry, the best future depends on the law. They should define four new asset classes:
Digital commodities. Bitcoin is such an asset, with no issuer; next is digital currency, which refers to dollar stablecoins issued by regulated banks like Circle; then there are digital securities, which are tokenized stocks that circulate globally at lightning speed 24/7, like Apple stock, or tokenized bonds; finally, there are digital tokens, such as tokenized fan clubs, tokenized tickets, or some form of tokenized membership.
The U.S. has 40 million small businesses. And if you want to issue a token, it should be able to be completed within four hours, requiring an issuer to explain the purpose of the token. The token should have some digital or real utility but should not provide securities, financial utility, or give you liquidation priority over a continuing business, nor should it provide a fixed cash flow like a bond for 30 years. It should be a Joe Rogan token or a Katy Perry token. If Katy Perry wants to issue a token that gives her VIP fans the privilege of booking tickets or concert tours 48 hours in advance, and they buy this token, then the token is useful. But it is not a security. If she never holds another concert for the rest of her life, this token will crash. If her concert is fantastic, this token will soar.
And TRUMP is a meme coin, not a utility coin. How many people will sell this useless token? Only a few can do it. If they talk about TRUMP, or if Kardashian wants to talk about it, or if Joe Rogan wants to sell something, maybe people will buy. I happen to think that all four of these asset types have their place. I believe the role of tokens is to allow the 40 million small businesses excluded from capital markets to enter capital markets. But I also believe tokens can create innovative business models.
If Joe Rogan says he wants to sell Joe Rogan tokens, you buy the tokens, and I will give you content that only you can access. If he wants to make money this way, as long as he does not deceive or defraud his customers, he will be fine. If someone opens an eBay account and sells 47,000 tickets but delivers none, then clearly, tokens should be subject to consumer protection laws; that is fraud.
Similarly, if you commit fraud with a token, you should be held accountable for consumer fraud and telecommunications fraud. I believe the issuer should bear civil and criminal liability for the damages caused. But you should know that this is no different from driving across the city; you don’t need to wait four years and spend $40 million hiring SEC lawyers to drive across the city. Everyone should have the freedom to do business. So, we are currently in a transitional period, with no market structure legislation and no legal definitions for digital currencies, tokens, securities, and digital commodities. If we want this industry to grow 100 times or 1,000 times, if we want to export and hope for U.S. currency to go global.
If you need digital currency and want to export securities like Apple stocks, ETFs, and bonds to the world, you need digital securities. If you want to realize all your ideas and raise funds for all small and medium-sized enterprises, you need crypto tokens. But if you want to export American values, such as sovereignty, trust, currency, and freedom, you need to export Bitcoin. Bitcoin aligns with American values, so we should export this digital commodity. In my view, we clearly need to do a lot of work on Capitol Hill to write this into law, and then these debates and anxieties will disappear. I think it’s not enough for McKinsey's lawyers to just write a thousand pages of legal text; lawyers think you can fight a lawsuit for twenty years.
You must define tokens so that a billion people can say in five seconds, "Oh, this is the Joe Rogan token; I understand." You also need to define currency so that people will say, "This is a digital currency backed by the dollar; I understand." If a billion people cannot understand what I just said in five seconds, then it won’t work. Once they understand, they will say, "This is a meme coin; anyone can sell it." It is just a token, not a security, commodity, or currency; it falls outside of classification.
Q7: Do you think it’s a good idea to add an amendment that prohibits senior officials, including the president, from profiting directly or indirectly from businesses related to stablecoins or tokens? Is it good to introduce such imposed measures?
Saylor: I think an important point to note is that Bitcoin is a commodity, an asset with no issuer. This means that everyone in the government, whether you are the president, a senator, or a congressman, can own a piece of gold, a house, a chicken, farmland, timber, soybeans, a barrel of oil, and Bitcoin; Bitcoin is just a form of property as a commodity.
I believe issuers should be held accountable, and institutions issuing currency should be regulated by banking regulators and the FDIC because they are creating currency. Securities issuers should be regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission because if you are going to print $100 billion worth of Apple stock, you must hold Apple stock and bear the corresponding responsibility. Token issuers should be responsible for any damages caused by their fraudulent actions. If you commit fraud, then you should be liable under consumer protection laws and any other applicable laws. This should apply to everyone.
Q8: Since January, we have seen the SEC, OCC, FDIC, and FED withdraw policies that hinder the adoption of cryptocurrency in the U.S. You have been here since Monday and have seen many people, such as Vice President Vance and David Sacks. What kind of conversations will you have with them next?
Saylor: I think what is truly important for the future is for the government to clearly state that Bitcoin is a legitimate asset; it is digital gold, a digital commodity. They need to promote to the world that it is neither a security nor a token, not a collectible nor a currency. It is a digital commodity. Bitcoin has reached a market value of $2 trillion without the support of a banking system, insurance companies, credit rating agencies, and mainstream media, while most authorities in the world are skeptical about it. Therefore, for Bitcoin to reach the next level and bring prosperity to us and the world, it needs to be promoted and educated globally.
Then, all these traditional financial structures of the 20th century will at least regard it as a neutral asset. For example, this week the Department of Labor rescinded guidelines that discouraged people from allowing employees to include Bitcoin in retirement plans, right? For a while, we were worried that we would be investigated by the Department of Labor if we provided employees with a channel to choose to buy Bitcoin. So I think the entire traditional financial system of the 20th century has many discriminatory phenomena, and the government should take the lead in guiding them into 21st-century finance.
In addition, across the entire digital asset space, as I said, the government needs to legally clarify three major issues: digital currency, digital securities, and digital tokens. This will greatly help alleviate debates, anxieties, confrontations, and conflicts. It will also accelerate the investment and development of all these digital assets by 10 to 100 times, making the U.S. the world’s digital banker, the world’s digital capital market, and the world’s digital innovator, right? This is good for the U.S. and the American people, and it needs a pioneer to lead countries around the world forward. Until the U.S. defines tokens, currencies, commodities, and securities, countries around the world cannot innovate. Then, each of our allies will move forward, and you will see an extraordinary explosion of digital innovation that will lead the U.S. and the entire world into 21st-century digital finance.
Q9: For the past five years, I have been reporting on this event, and we have talked before. From being Bitcoin-centric to many announcements around stablecoins this week, this is indeed a shift. How do you measure the integration of Bitcoin with other areas of the cryptocurrency ecosystem? Do you think we are moving in the right direction?
Saylor: I think the crypto industry is somewhat divided; there are divisions between the Bitcoin community and the cryptocurrency community. Since November 5 of last year, everything that has happened in the past six months, or even the past 12 months, has been an unusually close unity among the entire cryptocurrency industry, cryptocurrency innovators, the stablecoin industry, the Bitcoin industry, traditional financiers on Wall Street, and politicians. They are working together to pursue a vision.
People are gradually realizing that the best thing for the world and the industry is a commodity. Bitcoin and its use cases—long-term value storage, capital, currency, and the use case of digital dollars—are a medium of exchange applicable to everyone. Then there are stocks, whose use case is to create capital markets, innovation, and speed. Their use case is to raise funds and create compelling new products. Two years ago, I thought this industry only had Bitcoin, and I barely tolerated it, but a year and a half ago, I hated everything else.
I believe we have entered a more enlightened political environment, and now people are starting to have calm, prudent, and constructive discussions. For example, I can understand why someone in Turkey or Argentina might want to have dollars in their wallet. If you are a staunch supporter of Bitcoin, you don’t have to be angry because they want dollars; perhaps Bitcoin has its uses too. Then, if you value dollars more, you might feel that Bitcoin is like a savings account for those who actually have enough dollars. And if you are a small micro-business, and there are 400 million such businesses, they are starting to feel that maybe there is a way to issue tokens to raise funds and then use that money to grow their business.
I shouldn’t feel ashamed or embarrassed for needing to raise funds to grow my business; there’s nothing awkward about it. But two years ago, their attitude was that if you are not a commodity, we will put you in jail or shut you down.
Therefore, people in the cryptocurrency industry had to go through this Kabuki-style performance, this dramatic scene, as if to say, "I want to become a commodity, or else I will be doomed." However, the fact is, they don’t want to become a commodity; they don’t want to be the next Bitcoin. They want to raise funds to grow their business in a moral and transparent way, but there is no regulatory pathway to do so. Now people are starting to realize that maybe there is a moral way to sell tokens. I no longer have to hate Bitcoin. And Bitcoin supporters are thinking, "Well, now we can survive and be part of this ecosystem; maybe I don’t hate stablecoin advocates, or I hate holders of cryptocurrency tokens, or I hate cryptocurrency exchanges, or even the entire cryptocurrency industry. But I think they are all doing better. And together, we will all become stronger."
If the country is to overcome its challenges and the industry is to overcome its challenges, then we must work together to create trillions of dollars in value. And the key breakthrough point here is not technology, but regulation, specifically the definitions of digital tokens, digital securities, and digital currencies. The industry will grow 100 times, and it may even grow to $100 trillion or more.
The market value of Bitcoin will soar to trillions, and nations will benefit from it, industries will benefit from it, and the world will benefit from it. This is the path forward for our future.
免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。
