Michael Saylor’s aggressive Bitcoin strategy over the past few years has largely paid off for him and MicroStrategy, making the company now one of the largest corporate holders of Bitcoin. In a recent interview, Saylor unveiled an ambitious plan to transform MicroStrategy into a leading Bitcoin bank, aiming to capitalize on the growing interest in digital currencies and enhance the company’s role in the crypto ecosystem.
This plan does not sit well with some crypto participants like Craig Wright, a controversial figure who has controversially claimed to be the creator of Bitcoin.
In a recent post on social media platform X, Wright called out Michael Saylor, accusing him of defying Bitcoin’s true essence.
According to Craig Wright, Bitcoin was created to facilitate small, casual transactions peer-to-peer without the need for a middleman. However, recent dynamics in the crypto ecosystem have seen Bitcoin evolve over the years and make its way into the traditional finance industry. As such, Wright noted that Bitcoin has been distorted and manipulated. He contends that Bitcoin has become centralized and is now incapable of facilitating simple transactions without the involvement of intermediaries.
Wright further asserts that Michael Saylor’s ambitious plan to create a Bitcoin bank fundamentally contradicts the core principles of Bitcoin. He believes that Saylor’s intentions are not focused on enhancing Bitcoin’s original purpose but rather on positioning himself as the primary middleman in the crypto space, seeking to profit at the expense of other participants.
“To call BTC “Bitcoin” while simultaneously profiting from the very middleman role that true Bitcoin rejects is the height of deception, and it is through this misrepresentation that Saylor seeks to build his empire,” Wright said.
Michael Saylor envisions MicroStrategy transforming into a proposed Bitcoin bank, designed to operate by acquiring more Bitcoins through various financial instruments, including equities, convertibles, and fixed-income markets. This approach aims to give MicroStrategy’s investors exposure to Bitcoin’s price movements through MicroStrategy. This strategy is a result of the company’s firm belief in Bitcoin, with Saylor now saying the endgame is to grow to become a trillion-dollar company that would give investors access to Bitcoin’s price.
Since 2020, Saylor and MicroStrategy have amassed an impressive reserve of over 252,220 Bitcoins, which is currently valued at approximately $15.7 billion. Notably, a significant portion of these Bitcoin purchases was financed through the issuance of around $4 billion in debt,
On the other hand, Bitcoin recently crossed above the $63,000 price mark again in the past 24 hours. This comes out to a 6.5% increase in less than three days since it retested $59,000 on October 10.
Featured image from Pexels, chart from TradingView