$250 Trillion in Assets Looking for Ideal Store of Value: A Bull Case for Bitcoin

The CEO of Nasdaq-listed billion-dollar company Microstrategy has made a strong bull case for bitcoin. He says there is a $250 trillion ocean of assets looking for the ideal store a value right now and bitcoin is a better store of value than gold or tech stocks, so “a lot of that monetary energy is going to flow from the asset ocean into the crypto pond.”

Comparing Bitcoin to Investing Early in Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon

In a webcast with Hedgeye CEO Keith McCullough, aired last week, Microstrategy CEO Michael Saylor outlined a highly bullish case for bitcoin’s price. The Nasdaq-listed Microstrategy recently invested $425 million in bitcoin as its primary reserve asset.

Saylor began by explaining that he has always been a big tech investor. “The thing about technology is figuring out the thing that’s going to eat the world. If you’re right, own it, hold it, and wait,” he advised. The CEO gave the example of Apple, Google, Amazon, and Facebook, emphasizing repeatedly that it does not matter when you bought those tech stocks. “The truth of the matter is if you’d bought Google, Apple, Amazon, or Facebook at any point between 2010 and 2020 … I think it’s impossible to have lost money at any point for the decade … your investment mistake would be trying to time the market on those things.”

The Microstrategy CEO added: “Bitcoin is the first software network in the history of the world that can pull monetary energy, so these bitcoiners have figured out something that is really a thing of beauty and extraordinary value. They are pulling pure monetary energy on a network.” He elaborated:

If I take $100 million and I put it into bitcoin, it could sit there for a decade like in a battery. It won’t bleed out. You’re not losing 2% to 4% a year and I can put it in the palm of my hand and I can move it around the planet for a few dollars in a few minutes and we have never in the history of the world figured that out.

Bitcoin Is Not So Volatile

One classic objection investors have to investing in bitcoin is its volatility. Speaking on the subject, Saylor said he has been looking at the volatility of different assets over the last three, four, and five months. He looked at 30-year Treasuries, 10-year Treasuries, the NASDAQ, the Russell 2000, gold, silver, Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google, and more. After comparing their volatility to bitcoin, Saylor concluded:

My unscientific view is on every single day at least half of those assets are more volatile than bitcoin. And on a lot of volatile days, I’ve seen 80% to 90% of them be more volatile than bitcoin.

“So I think there’s a historic narrative/belief. People think they know this is volatile but in fact, it’s not looking that volatile to me over the past three months. I don’t think over the next decade it’s going to have the same characteristics of volatility that it had over the last decade,” Saylor said.

The Microstrategy CEO proceeded to discuss how investors are using Apple’s stock as their store of value. “People are literally using Apple’s stock as a store of value because it’s deflationary. Apple is buying it back and they think Apple is not going anywhere and they’re desperate to flee [from] currency.” However, he pointed out that “Apple is more volatile than bitcoin for the past three months.”

Bitcoin Is a Better Store of Value than Apple’s Stock or Gold

Besides Apple’s stock, gold is still investors’ favorite store of value. However, Saylor explained that neither are as good as bitcoin as a store of value.

“The truth is Apple’s stock is not scarce. The executive team can and will eventually print more and if that doesn’t dilute you then they’ve got regulatory risk, competitive risk, [and] execution risk — a lot of moving parts … that’s why they’re not good over the long term,” he detailed. As for gold, he said: “if you put $100 million into gold and the gold miners print 2% to 3% more a year, let’s say 2% more, well, over 100 years you lose 88% of your purchasing power.”

The CEO explained that these stores of value worked in the past because there was no alternative. However, things have changed. “In the year 2020, you have a choice, you have a digital gold,” he declared. “They cannot make any more. Bitcoin miners are the friends of bitcoin owners. They’re not the enemy of bitcoin owners.” He explained that to store $100 million for 100 years, you will lose 85% of it under the best case if you put it in gold. “Under the likely case, you lose it all because the bank will fail, the country will fail, [or] somebody will seize it,” he claimed.

Saylor presented bitcoin as the best solution: “The reason that the bitcoin maximalists … are passionate and religious about this is because for the first time in human history you can take all of your wealth and your life force. You can put it into an asset. You can keep the keys. You can take custody of your million dollars, your hundred thousand dollars. No government, no bank can take it away from you. There’s nobody to tell you you can’t own your life force, and if you have hopes and aspirations for your family, for your religion, for your life, then you have the power to achieve those hopes and aspirations without asking the permission of a bank or a government or politician.”

The Microstrategy CEO then spoke about the trillions of dollars currently in alternative assets that function as stores of value, including gold, technology stocks, and bonds. He proclaimed:

There’s a $250 trillion ocean of assets. They are looking for the ideal store of value right now.

Maintaining that bitcoin is a better store of value than other assets he previously described, he emphasized: “bitcoin is digital gold. It’s better gold than gold and it’s a better store of value than big tech.” He believes that as investors understand this, “a lot of that monetary energy is going to flow from the asset ocean into the crypto pond and everybody that makes the transition is going to benefit.”