Satoshi Nakamoto's Bitcoin white paper envisioned a “peer-to-peer electronic cash system,” but Bitcoin's biggest proponents appear to have a very different view of its purpose.
Strategic Executive Chairman Michael Saylor, who has been actively buying Bitcoin for nearly five years since the company adopted a Bitcoin (BTC) treasury strategy, announced what many are calling a “Bitcoin Central Bank” plan in his keynote speech at Bitcoin MENA.
Economist Saifeddine Amos, well-known in the Bitcoin world as the author of the Bitcoin Standard, was also a notable attendee at the Abu Dhabi conference. Ammuth and Thaler are said to have spoken regularly, and Thaler wrote the preface to Annemuth's most famous book.
Speaking on Cointelegraph's Chain Reaction show, Amos admitted that Saylor doesn't see Bitcoin as money the same way other Bitcoin supporters do.
Related: Saylor pitches Bitcoin-based banking system to nation-states
sauce: Gareth Jenkinson
“I don't think he thinks of Bitcoin as money. He was very clear about that. He sees Bitcoin more as an asset. One of the great metaphors he uses is that Bitcoin is like crude oil in that it is a hard asset,” Amos said.
“Just as Standard Oil refined crude oil into standard consumer oils like heating oil and gasoline, he sees Strategy's role as refining crude Bitcoin into various forms of financial assets that people can access.”
Thaler has leveraged a variety of existing corporate finance mechanisms to allow investors to gain exposure to Bitcoin.
The Company's Class A common stock (MSTR) allows investors to purchase shares of Strategy. Since the company's main strategy is to accumulate BTC, this acts as a leveraged play on the Bitcoin price.
Strategy also raised billions of dollars through the issuance of convertible bonds, a type of bond that can be converted into stock in the future, to buy more Bitcoin. His latest innovation has been issuing several classes of perpetual preferred stock (STRK, STRF, STRD, STRC) to institutional investors.
As of December 15th, Strategy has accumulated 671,268 Bitcoins.
Bitcoin is still money
Although Saylor has gone on record to clarify his thesis on why Bitcoin is a hard asset that serves as the basis for a variety of financial products, Seifedeen says Strategy's Bitcoin strategy does not change the monetary nature of Bitcoin.
“I understand the logic behind it. At the end of the day, this is an academic problem. It doesn't have much real-world relevance,” Saifedeen says.
“Theoretically, I think of Bitcoin itself as money. I think of Bitcoin as an asset itself. And I think people just need to hold Bitcoin. And in the long run, I think people will hold Bitcoin. As long as fiat printing presses exist, all kinds of fiat games can and will be played.”
Related: Hard money vs. privacy? Saifedean Ammous questions cryptocurrency's privacy push
Saifeddine said the global money supply is increasing by 7% to 15% every year and the system encourages the use of debt.
“There's a huge world out there that's used to taking on financial debt for all kinds of purposes, and we're going to continue to see that increase. As Bitcoin grows, you're going to see these kinds of financial fiat tools and products deployed on top of Bitcoin.”
What does that actually mean? This means businesses and individuals need to acquire Bitcoin as capital to access affordable debt.
“Ultimately, all of that has to be built on the foundation of buying Bitcoin. In any case, that means more people buying Bitcoin and the size of Bitcoin cash balances increases. And in my opinion, that necessarily means Bitcoin becomes money itself.”
Ammous was featured on Chain Reaction after Africa Bitcoin Corporation (ABC) announced that an economist would be advising the company.
ABC Managing Director Stafford Massie said Amos' main motivation for advising ABC was the widespread adoption of Bitcoin in South Africa's retail stores and unique circular economy.
Related:Why Bitcoin's Popular Narrative Doesn't Match the Data: James Check in 2026
