Bitcoin is more of a ‘billion-dollar building in cyberspace,' argues Saylor

The MicroStrategy chairman argued the United States, Europe and China would be much more likely to embrace Bitcoin if it were seen as digital property, not a medium of exchange.

Bitcoin (BTC) investors should treat Bitcoin less like a currency and more like a “billion dollar building in cyberspace” — to be held for a hundred years, according to MicroStrategy chairman Michael Saylor.

During a March 11 interview with CNBC, Saylor argued there is a “fundamental misunderstanding” among those who view Bitcoin as a currency, and that Bitcoin’s “killer application” is its ability to preserve capital for hundreds of years.

“It’s going to be controversial if people think of it as a currency, so I would encourage people to think of it as digital currency, a billion-dollar property in cyberspace,” said Saylor.

“No one’s trying to buy a cup of coffee with a fraction of their building on Fifth avenue. But every rich person I know owns property in London or New York City or somewhere, and none of them complain about having to spend their building as a medium of exchange.”

Saylor argued that many of the “controversial issues” surrounding cryptocurrencies have revolved around its use as a medium of exchange and that the United States, Europe and China would be much more likely to embrace it if it were seen as digital property.

#Bitcoin is Digital Property. It is superior to other investments such as Gold, Equity, or Real Estate because it is digital, available, global, ethical, & useful to millions of companies and billions of people. pic.twitter.com/738dblB0Zt

— Michael Saylor⚡️ (@saylor) March 11, 2024

“Medium of exchange is only worth 1 trillion dollars, store of value is worth 100 trillion dollars,” Saylor added in arguing why Bitcoin has a higher ceiling as a property than a currency.

Earlier this year in a Jan. 11 interview with CNBC, BlackRock’s CEO Larry Fink similarly voiced that Bitcoin is better suited as a form of wealth storage than as a contender to replace national currencies.

Bitcoin “is going to eat gold”

Commenting on the impact of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, Saylor said Bitcoin “is going to eat” into gold, adding “it has all the great attributes of gold” and none of its defects.

“It’s global, it’s the most widely recognized and trusted investment asset in the world right now, it’s ethical because it’s the king of all commodities because there’s no issuer [and] there’s no company controlling it.”

Related: Large corporations, major wirehouses gearing up to buy Bitcoin: Bitwise

Saylor also commented on whether he lost sleep when Bitcoin tumbled below $20,000, saying he didn’t have any “question” about it rebounding strongly:

“It’s the greatest of the assets in my opinion, there’s no second best, so I didn’t have any question about it,” said Saylor.

“We’re just waiting for the rest of the world to realize how good it is.”

Bitcoin’s price is currently $72,400 at the time of publication — up 9.3% over the last week and 44.7% over the last month.