Michael Saylor, CEO of Microstrategy, the first multinational to convert its cash reserves into bitcoin, gives his thoughts on the FTX debacle.
The wild west of shitcoins
For Michael Saylor, the events of this week “highlight the virtues of bitcoin as much as they expose the fragility of the crYpto ecosystem” :
“Bitcoin is a commodity that you can take care of yourself without the help of a trusted third party. The vast majority of crYpto tokens are unregulated securities that trade on unregulated centralized exchanges. And so, what could go wrong? We just saw what happens when an unregulated centralized exchange explodes. I think bitcoiners predicted this a long time ago. On behalf of all bitcoiners, we feel like we are trapped in a dysfunctional relationship with crypto and we want to get out of it. »
Whether the FTX scam will prompt regulatory crackdowns, Mr. Saylor calls for:
“I think the industry needs to grow. […] The world wants $1 trillion in the form of a stablecoin. I think the last attempts at regulation have been negative, but the market is waiting for regulators to say: here’s how to register a cryptocurrency, here’s how to register a security or a commodity. […] The future lies in regulated digital assets trading on regulated exchanges where everyone has the protections they need and investors in general understand the difference between bitcoin [commodity]a stablecoin and a token [security]. »
In the case of progressive regulation, Mr. Saylor believes that the “20,000 tokens will disappear and there will only be a big dozen left”. “But they will be properly registered tokens”.
Then there will be a “much faster development of the industry”. “And eventually, we will move from an offshore Wild West where anything goes, to a stage where digital assets will be embraced by big players like Fidelity or BlackRock.”
Mr. Saylor: “There is no second best”
Articulating more precisely his thoughts on the scandal FTXMr. Saylor did not go there by four paths. “There is no second best” :
“I repeat, there is no ‘second best crypto asset’. The Bitcoin strategy is to own your own private keys. Satoshi made us realize that a currency that can be manipulated by a central authority cannot be trusted. Banks cannot be trusted. The banks will eventually freeze your assets, the amount of money will increase, and eventually it will collapse. »
“It’s always been happening for thousands of years. The crYptO industry has reinvented the fiat currency. FTT is just another fiat currency within an opaque centralized exchange using leverage. It’s a sad situation, but it should remind us why Satoshi created Bitcoin. I think it’s pretty clear that the only digital asset for a responsible investor is bitcoin. The strategy is: I hold it for a long time knowing that there will be volatility. »
Mr. Saylor drove the point home by saying that the principle of Bitcoin is that “we shouldn’t have to trust a CEO, a company or a bank”.
“We should hold our own keys, run our own node on a network that will work for the next 1,000 years. It is sad that so many people have to lose their money to remember these basic principles. »
Be like Michael Saylor. Be a MAXIMALIST.
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