Bitcoin will be worth $65,000 within 4 years: MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor

MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor became one of the most controversial figures in corporate America in just two years. He transformed his small software company into what he called the “de facto proxy to bitcoin,” as he used huge amounts of leverage and purchased approximately $4 billion worth of bitcoin at an average of over $30,000 per coin.

MicroStrategy shares are down substantially from their February 2021 peak of $1,000 (which coincided bitcoin’s peak above $65,000 per coin). Saylor stated that MicroStrategy’s bitcoin experiment was a success.

He explained his thought process.

MicroStrategy quickly discovered that its employees were being displaced by tech giants Meta Platforms Inc., Microsoft and others as the COVID-19 pandemic spread throughout the globe.

Saylor stated that “We were sitting on the moment of truth in 2020′ in Wednesday’s MarketWatch’s inaugural Best New Ideas in Money festival.”

MicroStrategy’s enterprise-software business was still generating steady cash flow, but the company was now essentially ‘dead money’.

Saylor was faced with a dilemma when the Federal Reserve reduced interest rates to zero. He could either sell to a competitor or take the money it was producing and give it to his employees to prevent them from leaving, or he could try something else.

He said, “We could have a quick death or a slow death or we could take a chance.”

The risk was buying large amounts of bitcoin at a price of just above $30,000 per coin.

MicroStrategy’s stock value soared with the rise in bitcoin prices. However, investors are now concerned that MicroStrategy might not be able to repay the billions it borrowed to fund its crypto purchases. Saylor maintained that his shareholders had made “billions”, as the stock trades well above its April 2020 level.

Saylor isn’t anticipating that the company will have trouble paying back its debts despite the fall in bitcoin’s value. However, MicroStrategy was able to borrow at ‘extremely low’ interest rates.

Saylor said bitcoin will rebound and rise to new heights. He stated that he expected bitcoin to reach $65,000 within the next four year. He said that it could go up to $500,000 per coin “this decade” if it replaces gold and is more widely used in emerging countries.

Mark DeCambre, MarketWatch editor-in-chief, asked Saylor if bitcoin is still an inflation hedge. Saylor replied that he believes bitcoin still has value, even though bitcoin’s price has plummeted in the face global inflation waves that have reshaped markets since 2022.

Saylor declined to answer a question about whether he would call bitcoin a bottom. However, he stated that the simple moving average of the past four years makes the most sense and that we are ‘about at that number’ right now.

The conference was concluded by Saylor sharing some news. MicroStrategy has been developing new products using Lightning Network, a cryptocurrency protocol designed to speed up bitcoin transactions.

MicroStrategy does lightning development. He said that lightning wallets are being developed for enterprise use.

According to CoinDesk, bitcoin’s price was below $19,000 on Wednesday. This is just below its lowest point this year.

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