MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor is proving his Bitcoin critics wrong
Michael Saylor, the CEO and co-founder of Microstrategy, the Fortune 500 software company, over the weekend gave a very public ‘told-you-so’ to his critics regarding crypto.
Saylor, whose company has acquired more than 140,000 Bitcoin for nearly $4.17 billion, posted a chart on Twitter showing the performance of the world’s largest cryptocurrency since August 2020 – when MicroStrategy adopted its Bitcoin strategy – compared with the S&P 500, the Nasdaq, gold, silver and bonds.
Over this period, Bitcoin is up 147%.
In comparison, the stock market index tracking the performance of 500 of the largest companies listed in the US is up 23%, the tech-heavy Nasdaq comes with 12% gains, and gold just 1%. Meanwhile, silver and bonds are down 9% and 16% respectively.
It can be reasonably assumed that Michael Saylor is now flagging-up these figures following the considerable, harsh, and often personal criticism he faced last year during the so-called ‘crypto winter’.
Due to the contagion effect driven largely by the collapse of crypto unicorns, Bitcoin’s value lost 70% in 2022, drawing the ire of traditional financiers and media commentators who claimed that the crypto firebrand investor was being “wholly irresponsible” and “gambling” by “going all-in” on BTC.
Critics also slammed MicroStrategy’s decision to borrow the money to buy the Bitcoin.
But throughout the troughs of last year and into the bull run of 2023 (it’s up 55% in the first quarter alone), Saylor has publicly maintained utter confidence in the cryptocurrency.
At Bitcoin Miami in May 2022, he noted that he was “more bullish than ever on Bitcoin”. He also commented on US President Joe Biden’s executive order directing federal agencies to research digital currency by saying, “Bitcoin has been embraced. The administration has given a green light to Bitcoin. Politicians are now competing over who’s the most pro-Bitcoin.”
During King Charles’ coronation he Tweeted, “Bitcoin is King”.
Also, last weekend, when legendary billionaire investors Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger, Chairman and Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, were asked at a shareholders’ meeting about the US government’s plans to monetise the enormous levels of national debt by printing money which devalues the dollar for investors, Saylor noted “Bitcoin fixes this”.
This underscores for many that he was right all along as the financial environment has not changed since when back in August 2020, he introduced the Bitcoin strategy for his company as a treasury hedging asset over the US dollar.
Besides the critical matter of being a hedge, Saylor frequently tells his millions of social media followers about other Bitcoin fundamentals. These include that all transactions are traceable, visible, and unalterable, meaning there’s a level of accountability unrivalled in traditional finance.
The crypto advocate’s confidence in Bitcoin remains unshakeable and now we’re in a bull market he seems keen to highlight how his faith in the cryptocurrency is paying off for MicroStrategy.
Yet I doubt this – or indeed anything – will be enough to convince the critics.