Volatility, 24/7 markets, and institutional damping

Michael Saylor is the CEO of Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), the first publicly traded company to convert a material portion of its balance sheet into bitcoin. In this conversation, we revisit the very first time Michael Saylor ever publicly talked about bitcoin — recorded in late 2020 when bitcoin was trading around $10,000. We discuss his background founding MicroStrategy at age 24, the macro conditions that led him to reject cash as a store of value, why he chose bitcoin over gold and real estate, how he acquired $425 million in bitcoin without moving the market, and why he believes bitcoin is on a path to rival or surpass gold's market cap.

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• 0:00 - Intro
• 1:25 - Michael Saylor's background & founding MicroStrategy 
• 29:40 - The 99% stock crash & lessons learned 
• 31:07 - How COVID changed MicroStrategy's business 
• 33:37 - The macro problem: cash melting & asset inflation 
• 40:45 - How Saylor discovered bitcoin 
• 45:23 - Why not real estate, equities, or gold? 
• 49:10 - Bitcoin's network dominance & why it already won
• 53:30 - Addressing the "someone can copy it" critique 
• 59:28 - Convincing the board: homework assignments & deliberations 
• 1:04:30 - How they acquired $425M in bitcoin without moving price 
• 1:09:45 - Reaction from other CEOs & breaking the mental block 
• 1:12:00 - The four-minute mile moment for corporate bitcoin 
• 1:17:00 - Addressing bitcoin's volatility 
• 1:21:39 - Bitcoin vs. gold market cap
• 1:23:10 - Rapid fire questions & closing