Michael Saylor names catalysts for a tenfold rise in Bitcoin

In an interview CNBC, MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor outlined factors that, in the mid term, will drive Bitcoin’s price tenfold.

The first of them he named the upcoming halving. In Saylor’s view, a halving of the block reward will lead to higher demand for the cryptocurrency.

The entrepreneur noted that Bitcoin miners are forced to sell mined digital gold for roughly $1 billion per month to fund operating expenses. After the halving, which is expected in April 2024, the volume of these liquidations will also halve.

“You will see $12 billion of natural sales per year transform into $6 billion,” said Saylor.

At the same time, spot ETFs based on the first cryptocurrency will become a source of demand pressure on buyers, he believes.

Regulatory rules are expected in the United States soon requiring fair-value accounting for corporate Bitcoin reserves, Saylor reminded.

“In the long run, this will open a door for corporations to adopt Bitcoin as a treasury asset and create shareholder value with its balance sheets,” he said.

The entrepreneur also cited a positive effect on the industry from regulatory and enforcement actions by authorities, including the trial of former CEO the collapsed exchange FTX.

According to Saylor, “all these early crypto cowboys, tokens that are unregistered securities, and unreliable custodians were liabilities for Bitcoin. For the industry to take the next step, it needs ‘parental oversight’,” the MicroStrategy founder noted.

He also believes that it is time to move away from the ‘100,000 tokens’ that are merely used for speculation toward Bitcoin.

“When the industry looks away from small shiny tokens that distract attention and destroy shareholder value, I believe it will move to the next level and we will get 10x from the current level,” concluded Saylor.

In October, MicroStrategy increased the volume of its Bitcoin reserves to 158,400 BTC (~$5.6 billion) after purchasing an additional 155 BTC for $5.3 million.