Michael Saylor, MicroStrategy CEO.Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Michael Saylor never wants MicroStrategy to let go of its $5 billion bitcoin pile, he told Bloomberg. “Never. No. We’re not sellers,” he said. “We’re only acquiring and holding bitcoin, right? That’s our strategy.” Saylor said bitcoin’s slump doesn’t worry him, and his stash brings “great comfort” as inflation is so high. Sign up here for our daily newsletter, 10 Things Before the Opening Bell. Michael Saylor doesn’t intend to ever change MicroStrategy’s multibillion-dollar bitcoin acquisition plan, despite a painful 40% slide in the cryptocurrency’s price.
The noted bitcoin bull said he wouldn’t be tempted to sell the crypto asset, even in the face of an extended bear market.
“Never. No. We’re not sellers,” the MicroStrategy CEO told Bloomberg in an interview published Thursday. “We’re only acquiring and holding bitcoin, right? That’s our strategy.”
In late 2020, MicroStrategy became the first publicly traded company in the US to buy and hold bitcoin as part of its balance sheet. Since then, the business intelligence software maker has accumulated around 124,391 bitcoins worth about $5.2 billion at current prices, according to Bitcoin Treasuries.
MicroStrategy has continuously added to its bitcoin portfolio since August 2020, sticking to its promise to keep buying more of the leading digital currency.
After announcing its multibillion-dollar bitcoin bet, the company’s stock rose more than 900% at one point. But its enterprising move to continuously make crypto purchases, which is largely backed by loans, has recently shown diminishing returns.
The company’s stock has dropped 16% in the last 12 months, compared with bitcoin’s 35% gain in the same period — suggesting Saylor may have chosen a risky strategy. On top of that, the average price of MicroStrategy’s bitcoin purchases since late February is higher than the token’s current trading levels.
Even so, its CEO predicts bitcoin will first reach $600,000 a coin, before eventually hitting $6 million.
Bitcoin was last trading around $41,942 on Thursday, and has fallen 11% in the last month, according to CoinGecko data.
Saylor told Bloomberg he isn’t worried about the cryptocurrency’s slide from its record high of $69,000 in November to less than $40,000 this month, saying that the firm’s holdings are actually a source of “great comfort” — given that inflation is so high.
“The best defense against inflation is a bitcoin standard,” he said. “So, I don’t really think we could do anything better to position our company in an inflationary environment than to convert our balance sheet into bitcoin.”
Bitcoin has been promoted as a hedge against inflation due to its limited supply and historically low correlation with traditional asset classes, like stocks and commodities. But recent IMF data shows it is increasingly acting as a risk asset.
With the increased adoption of cryptocurrencies, bitcoin has tended to show more correlation to stocks, limiting its risk diversification benefits and heightening the risk of contagion across financial markets, the IMF said.
Yet, Saylor remains bullish on the token because of his unease about central banks propping up economies with cheap money during the pandemic.
“I had a sense of the consequences if we did nothing, because I had seen the demise of 99% of my competitors, and I could see where we were headed if we stuck with the status quo,” he said. “We would have to either adopt a bitcoin strategy or sell the company. And we elected to pursue bitcoin.”
Saylor, who’s previously called cash a “melting ice cube,” expects more names on Wall Street to buy bitcoin at current prices, saying it’s “a great entry point for institutional investors.”
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