MicroStrategy’s co-founder and executive chairman, Michael Saylor, who served as the company’s former CEO for over 30 years, continues to remain bullish on bitcoin three years after his publicly-traded business intelligence company decided to make its first BTC purchase.
Saylor has also made big price predictions for the asset, believing its value could exceed $1 million per coin.
MicroStrategy Holds Nearly 153,000 BTC 3 Years Later
MicroStrategy made history and headlines on August 11, 2020, after becoming the first publicly-traded company to purchase bitcoin. The firm initially hinted in July 2020 about its plans to invest in assets such as bitcoin or gold rather than holding cash, as a way to escape inflation, with the company later deciding to buy BTC worth $250 million and adopting it as its primary treasury reserve asset.
According to Saylor at the time, who was MicroStrategy’s CEO, the decision to go for bitcoin was made because the cryptocurrency served as a better hedge against inflation and had a higher return on investment compared to other assets.
That first purchase marked the beginning of several investments amid the crypto’s volatile price movements, causing the company to hold a large BTC stash. In June 2023, Saylor announced that the business intelligence giant bought 12,333 BTC for $347 million, making it one of the company’s largest purchases in a single quarter since Q2 2021.
As of July 31, 2023, MicroStrategy holds 152,800 BTC, which the company said was purchased for $4.53 billion at an average purchase price of $29,672 per bitcoin. The business intelligence software firm is the largest corporate holder of bitcoin.
Meanwhile, in a December 2022 SEC filing, MicroStrategy revealed that it sold 704 BTC to generate tax benefits. The sale was a first for the company, with the action contrary to a previous statement by Saylor, who said MicroStrategy would never sell any of its stash.
Saylor Continues to Solidify Bitcoin Support
Saylor is known as one of bitcoin’s biggest supporters and has continued to promote the asset as far superior to gold, calling it the “digital gold.” However, he was not always pro-bitcoin, as he predicted the asset’s imminent demise in a 2013 tweet, stating that it would suffer the same fate as online gambling.
But Saylor’s view on bitcoin has since changed, and not only has the billionaire spearheaded several BTC purchases at MicroStrategy while also making personal acquisitions, he has also made big price predictions for the number one cryptocurrency.
The MicroStrategy executive chairman in May 2022 said BTC’s price could “go into the millions” while stating that it is the future of money. The following month, Saylor predicted that bitcoin’s price will skyrocket to $1 million.
Later in September 2022, the exec said the cryptocurrency could be valued at $500,000 in the next 10 years if it matches the market capitalization of gold. For context, BTC’s market cap is $572.3 billion, while gold’s is currently estimated at $12.8 trillion.
Also, Saylor seems to be unfazed by the ongoing enforcement crackdown on the crypto sector by the US SEC, stating that the regulator’s action could benefit bitcoin by boosting the asset’s price and increasing its market share dominance to 80%.
Saylor, who served as MicroStrategy’s CEO for over 30 years, left his position in August 2022 to become the company’s executive officer, with MicroStrategy president Phong Le serving as the new CEO. The American business executive explained that his new role will help him to better focus on the firm’s “bitcoin acquisition strategy and related bitcoin advocacy initiatives.”
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