Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Has Precedent in Other Big U.S. Government Purchases: Michael Saylor

• Michael Saylor believes the U.S. government should and will build a strategic reserve of bitcoin.
• If a bill by Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) becomes law, it would be the “greatest deal of the 21st century,” he said.
• The idea of strategic stockpiling isn’t new, Saylor pointed out — the government has made many of such moves in the past.

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In July, then presidential candidate Donald Trump assured a crowd of crypto enthusiasts at the Bitcoin 2024 conference that he would hold onto the current U.S. government holdings of roughly 200,000 bitcoin.

Shortly after, Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) went one step further and presented a bill that would add to the country’s existing holdings until it reaches one million tokens, purchased over a period of five years.

This would be the greatest deal of the 21st century, Saylor said during a presentation at the Cantor Crypto, Digital Assets & AI Infrastructure Conference in Miami on Thursday.

“The best way to protect the dollar is make sure you retire the debt and become rich," said the MicroStrategy (MSTR) utive chairman. "The next best way to protect the dollar is to make sure that if anybody ever considers a different capital asset other than the treasury bill, you own it,” he said. That asset is bitcoin, according to Saylor.

The idea of the U.S. buying strategic assets isn’t new, reminded Saylor, pointing to the acquisition of Manhattan, the Louisiana Purchase and the buying of California and Alaska in the 19th century. All resulted in multi-trillion dollar returns for the county, he said. There have also been several other strategic purchases made in the history of the nation like gold, oil, grain and helium, noted Saylor.

Saylor: “It’s been done before, it’s a very simple idea: figure out where the value is going to be, go buy it cheap and hold it. You’re a nation, this is what nations do. … Bitcoin is manifest destiny for the United States. I think the Trump administration understands it, I think Senator Lummis understands it … that’s why it will happen."

If Sen. Lummis’ bill passes as drafted – which has a better chance now that Republicans will have majorities in the Senate and House next year — the U.S. could see a $16 trillion benefit from the one million bitcoin purchase, according to Saylor.

Saylor also described a “Trump Max” scenario in which the country purchases four million bitcoin. That, said Saylor, might result in a return of $81 trillion.

The Trump Max is the “rational way,” Saylor concluded.

Edited by Stephen Alpher.