Michael Saylor, CEO of the software analytics and pro-bitcoin company MicroStrategy, recently appeared in an interview with Bloomberg to discuss 10 steps he believes will make bitcoin a stronger asset.
“There’s about 10 things that have to happen over the next decade to make it [bitcoin] a better asset, and we kind of know what those 10 things are,” Saylor stated in the interview.
The first on the CEO’s list of issues to be addressed is the absence of a no wash-trading rule, allowing traders to harvest loss and gains in a way that cannot happen with traditional equities markets.
Then, Saylor mentioned the issues with the 520 unregistered and unregulated crypto exchanges offering 20x leverage, which often leads to unprotected investors taking massive losses.
Next, the 19,000 cryptocurrencies being cross-collateralized and associated with bitcoin currently hold bitcoin back by comparing it to badly managed, unregistered securities.
Moreover, the issue becomes worse as these securities are glorified by the next issue at hand, “wildcat banks,” which enable gammified practices offering unsustainable yield, such as was seen with the fall of the Terra ecosystem.
Not least of all, Saylor listed ignorance and fear of the asset class, as a lack of technical know-how still terrifies many, as does media coverage telling of the many supposed deaths of bitcoin.
However, the fear and uncertainty is not just for bitcoin as Saylor went on to explain that we currently do not have a real stablecoin, which he believes will be a major boon for the ecosystem once one is fully regulated and approved.
Then, the CEO closed his list noting the absence of a spot exchange-traded fund (ETF), which would allow institutions to interact with the asset of bitcoin without needing to touch it themselves.
Finally, the three remaining points that need to be improved on in the bitcoin ecosystem revolve around the lack of regulatory guidance and support institutions currently must overcome. These points include lack of insurance, as well as guidance in becoming involved with the space.
Prior to revealing his list of improvements that will launch bitcoin into its next bull-cycle, Saylor spent much of the interview justifying the bitcoin strategy of MicroStrategy during this recent downturn.
“We did a lot of backtesting and I’ve gone back and looked at the numbers,” Saylor explained. “On August 10, 2020 when we announced our $250 million bitcoin buy, since then, bitcoin is up 72%.”
He went on to compare it to some traditional assets over the same time period including: the NASDAQ (-2%) , gold (-9%), S&P 500 (+9%), and single-family homes (+26%).
“The bottom line is that the bitcoin strategy is 10x better than any other alternative,” Saylor concluded. “So, no. I don’t regret it.”
