In a Keynote address at MicroStrategy World: Bitcoin for Corporations, MicroStrategy Executive Chairman Michael Saylor delivered a masterclass on corporate finance and the power of bitcoin to supercharge corporate balance sheets. Saylor made a point to emphasize Bitcoin as the single solution for capital appreciation in an inflationary environment.
In his speech, Saylor likened the cost of capital to being the benchmark which a company must surpass to increase its purchasing power, arguing that “Bitcoin is the only asset that exceeds the cost of capital. Another way to say that, is everything else is dilutive.”
Further describing the true cost of capital, he noted that the “S&P is the modern surrogate for the cost of capital… If you had to pick one metric and say, what’s the metric that gives you a sense of how rapidly the world currency supply is expanding in dollars? Probably the S&P 500… this is another way to see inflation.”
Saylor went on to emphasize his belief that all assets, except bitcoin, are not accretive to corporate balance sheets despite their general acceptance. In particular, he highlighted the relative underperformance of the silver, gold and US government bonds:
“[If companies] invested in T-bills, they’re going to get 3% after tax against a 12% cost of capital per year. And so you hold $100 billion of capital, you destroy $9 billion of shareholder value a year… The story here is that the bonds don’t hold value, right? They’re awful capital assets. Silver doesn’t work. Gold doesn’t keep up with the cost of capital.”
There Is No Second-Best Crypto Asset
The MicroStrategy Executive Chairman noted key differences between Bitcoin and alternative cryptocurrencies like Ethereum, expressing the importance and necessity of proof-of-work-based consensus in creating a digital commodity.
“You could see the writing on the wall when the spot ETF of Bitcoin was approved in January. By the end of May, you’ll know that Ethereum is not going to be approved. And when Ethereum is not going to be approved, sometime this summer it’ll be very clear to everyone that Ethereum is deemed a crypto asset security, not a commodity. After that, you’re going to see that [for] Ethereum, BNB, Solana, Ripple, Cardano – everything down the stack.”
On the point of Bitcoin’s energy use, Saylor invoked the idea of a “physical linkage to the real world” in Bitcon’s consensus. He described the network as having “raw digital power standing in the way of anybody that would try to undermine the integrity of the network… The network is feeding on electricity, and that creates a decentralizing dynamic that drives all of the network to the end of the grid in the quest of stranded energy.”
It’s Going Up, Forever
Saylor’s conviction and use of physics-based metaphors were present as ever as he spoke on Bitcoin’s price appreciation and continued monetization. “It’s never declining. The chart’s not ever decreasing. It only goes one way. Bitcoin is a capital ratchet. It’s a one-way ratchet. Archimedes said, give me a lever long enough and a place to stand and I can move the world. Bitcoin is the place to stand.”
“There’s no more powerful idea than the digital transformation of capital… No force on earth can stop an idea whose time has come. This is an idea. Its time has come. It’s unstoppable. And so I’m going to end with the observation that Bitcoin is the best. The best what? The best.”