Michael Saylor, you have been pressured to grasp that every one the store-of-value property are faulty and pushed you to give attention to the one asset that’s not. That doesn’t make you proof against seeing the medium of trade case. You will note how the housing market is big whenever you watch it from one perspective and horrible from one other. However if you happen to expertise ache driving you to maintain your billions of {dollars} buying energy, housing is a good device to maintain it.
Your SoV obsession misses the mark—badly. The largest side of Bitcoin is the medium of trade. Regardless that the fiat system more and more separates cash’s features, that doesn’t imply it ought to. I get that saying Bitcoin is a medium of trade is kicking the hornet’s nest, and all the opposite foreign money lords will attempt to cease Bitcoin. It’d be nice in the event that they joined in as a substitute of combating it. That can give all of the billionaires certainty that they will put cash in it, however merely utilizing Bitcoin simply to retailer worth is attacking it. That strategy will flip it into digital gold 2.0, captured.
There’s no retailer of worth with out a medium of trade! The medium of trade comes first. You obtain a transaction, then you definately retailer the Bitcoin. If the shop of worth have been the principle level, think about asserting you misplaced your keys on your Bitcoin stack—you’d nonetheless retailer it completely, however with out the medium of trade perform, the market will wipe out the fictional fiat worth layered on high. That worth is there precisely as a result of it may possibly transfer and nonetheless can be utilized as a medium of trade.
An oxygen tank is important for reserves, however respiration issues extra. The shop of worth is secondary and depends on the power to transact. With out that, the shop of worth means nothing. Michael, you discovered this firsthand when your million-dollar holdings in Argentina have been diluted by 90%. You struggled to protect the worth not since you didn’t see it coming however since you couldn’t use it as a medium of trade. True, a poor retailer of worth weakens the medium of trade, however why does the latter take precedence? As a result of the power to trade is what permits you to reply.
By now, most individuals uncovered to Bitcoin know the chart from Jesse Mayers that you simply popularized. You declare there’s no higher concept than a $900 trillion clear retailer of worth, then instantly name Bitcoin one of many world’s most liquid markets, working 24/7/365. Guess what? Liquidity means medium of trade.
Now, let’s break down the Jesse chart, beginning with the housing market. It’s valued at $330 trillion, nevertheless it’s such a poor medium of trade that it solely trades for $1.3 trillion yearly. Rules and taxes make buying and selling actual property even harder. Nonetheless, because it’s greater than 100 instances higher as a retailer of worth, billionaires prize it, more and more dominating the market and pricing out youthful generations.
A home is perhaps invaluable, however its price grows not simply from what it’s however from its ties to close by utilities. Construct a highway to it, and the worth rises. Add a superstore or a fuel station, or join it to {the electrical} grid, and the worth climbs once more. The community creates alternatives for power to circulate into the world, boosting the prospect to seize that power as financial worth, like cash. So the exchanges that occur within the community are what will increase the worth of a home. However I see the flip aspect: if you happen to’re a billionaire and everybody’s after your sources, you don’t need a huge community round your home. You’d prioritize privateness as a substitute. The home may lose worth, however the aim shifts to elevating the fee for others to succeed in you, decreasing the prospect to be attacked.
What concerning the bond market? Bonds are valued at $300 trillion as a retailer of worth, with $140 trillion traded yearly plus $25 trillion in new bond issuance. Meaning the medium of trade worth is about 50% of its whole worth yearly. It’s higher than homes in that sense, however the numbers nonetheless present folks primarily use it as a retailer of worth.
Subsequent up are equities. Valued at $115 trillion, they have been traded for about $175 trillion. This exhibits their energy as a medium of trade exceeds their retailer of worth function. Take your MicroStrategy inventory—you understand it higher than anybody. How a lot worth did it retailer final yr, and the way a lot was exchanged by means of it?
The following two sections are fascinating. The artwork trade’s yearly transactions are so minor that they don’t even register on the chart. In the meantime, the vehicles and collectibles sector sees buying and selling volumes of almost $4 trillion yearly. This highlights that they’re largely seen as a retailer of worth every year, nevertheless it additionally reveals how poorly the housing market performs as a medium of trade—outdone even by the automobile market.
Ooooh gold! Gold bugs rave that it’s been round for over 5,000 years, calling it the last word retailer of worth for no matter purpose—but it’s simply 1.78% of the shop of worth market. This exhibits that when its medium of trade function was stripped away, it turned susceptible to seize and manipulation. Sorry, gold bugs, that genie’s not going again within the lamp. Gold holds $16 trillion in worth, and the gold bugs declare it might retailer the $120 trillion price of cash in it. They’re determined to pump their baggage, however the market disagrees, valuing the faulty fiat cash ten instances increased than the shiny, lifeless rock. Is gold a greater medium of trade, then? It trades at $54 trillion yearly, boosted by derivatives, making its medium of trade use 3.5 instances its retailer of worth function.
Cash may not dominate as a retailer of worth amongst property, nevertheless it’s the main medium of trade by far. Different shops of worth property don’t even come shut. What if the greenback, the highest foreign money, turned only a retailer of worth? It might collapse the USD community, boosting the worth of non-US property as their networks step in to satisfy the demand. Over time, their retailer of worth property would rise whereas USD property would plummet. International cash totals round $120 trillion, however take a look at the highest central banks’ transaction volumes: Fedwire at ~$1,182 trillion, TARGET2 at ~$765 trillion, CHAPS at ~$145 trillion, and others (partial) at ~$500 trillion (a conservative estimate because of incomplete knowledge). So, whereas the shop of worth is $120 trillion—per the Jesse chart—the medium of trade utility of those networks is over 20 instances larger, which is round ~$2.5 quadrillion. What would the medium of trade worth be if 2 billion unbanked folks have been included? What number of extra transactions would that spark? And what if microtransactions have been doable?
The place does Bitcoin match into all of this? The prevailing narrative urges holders by no means to promote, positioning Bitcoin solely as a retailer of worth. But, the market tells a distinct story. In 2024, Bitcoin’s market cap hit $2 trillion, whereas the worth exchanged on its first layer—the blockchain—reached $3.4 trillion. Issue within the Lightning Community (although its actual figures stay elusive), and the entire possible approaches $4 trillion. This implies that Bitcoin’s function as a medium of trade is twice as vital as its store-of-value perform. So, what occurs if that long-standing “maintain ceaselessly” propaganda narrative begins to fade?
Bonds and equities are monetary “devices” that faux to be cash as a result of fiat foreign money is flawed. This creates a market that shuts out a lot of the inhabitants from safeguarding their wealth, additional splitting cash’s retailer of worth function. However how inclusive are these devices? Or are they only instruments to siphon worth from the fiat medium of trade, channeling it to privileged people and billionaires and others alike with a have to hoard?
Globally, solely 10-20% of individuals have publicity to bonds, largely not directly by means of pension or funding funds, in a roundabout way. For equities, 15-25% of the inhabitants has some entry. That leaves at greatest 80% of humanity with out these instruments to guard themselves, making them susceptible to exploitation. Splitting the shop of worth from the medium of trade units up a dynamic of extractors and the extracted. This amplifies the “cantillion impact”: those that can print the medium of trade purchase up store-of-value property, sidelining 80% or extra of individuals. It’s a suggestions loop that weakens the system, widening the hole between haves and have-nots. The extra you print, the extra you disconnect cash from its store-of-value function.
One other very huge a part of the entire system is the charges. There are charges for sending {dollars} through the banking system, and that could be a service, however how a lot are the charges whenever you wish to swap from the medium of trade into the store-of-value devices? Much more. That’s creating a lot friction in the entire system, and it contributes to excluding the have-nots from storing their worth. At this level, the medium of trade turns increasingly into the medium of extraction slightly than for trade. That is additionally a purpose why the shop of worth case is extra interesting within the fiat system.
Bitcoin is just not pretending to be cash like all the things else; it’s the first engineered cash that doesn’t erode like a melting ice dice and doesn’t discriminate. It’s the cash of those that select it. With no printer behind it, there’s no urge to swap it for a “higher” retailer of worth—there’s no second greatest. Even these with out Bitcoin can use it to form their lives into the lives they want. Shifting away from chasing cash to retailer in one thing and as a substitute constructing no matter enriches their lives on high of Bitcoin.
The largest concept isn’t storing worth—it’s transferring it. However to maneuver worth, you first have to have some saved. Then once more, to have some saved, somebody wants to maneuver some your manner first. That’s why the wealthy favor property that don’t erode like a melting ice dice. In the meantime, these beginning their careers focus extra on receiving worth than storing what they don’t but have.
Why does the shop of worth case draw a lot consideration? One purpose could possibly be the hassle concerned. With a retailer of worth, you purchase and hodl—no work wanted to enhance your life. With a medium of trade, you need to work to develop your financial savings, persuading others to pay on your items or providers in Bitcoin. One other issue: for many, their fiat portfolio nonetheless outweighs their Bitcoin one. Solely when Bitcoin surpasses their fiat holdings will they contemplate enhancing their lives with it. That shift isn’t robust for a lot of the world’s inhabitants, who lack financial savings or property anyway. This may clarify why the present system resists letting them exit, pushing dependency by providing to custody their Bitcoin—buying and selling one reliance for one more.
Even ossification ties into the necessity for extra mediums of trade use. You, Michael, strongly assist ossification, but when Bitcoin isn’t used to succeed in extra folks, you’re delaying it. Not like you, America knew that to make the greenback the world’s reserve foreign money, they needed to distribute it broadly to lock within the community impact. They noticed the community as the important thing to ossification, and it labored simply since printing and sharing payments price little. With Bitcoin, its absolute shortage requires balancing how a lot to unfold versus retailer. Nonetheless, that doesn’t imply you shouldn’t spend any in any respect.
The metaphor of storing fats within the physique is essential to long-term survival. True, nevertheless it overlooks the necessity for a gentle meals revenue to remain alive earlier than storing fats. With out revenue, there’s nothing to retailer—so trade comes first. But, for somebody not frightened about starvation, the main target shifts to storing meals to forestall spoilage. I maintain hammering this level to focus on your bias towards the shop of worth, which skews your judgment and misleads others.
At this stage of my Bitcoin journey, I’m sure of this: chasing cash corrupts you. Bitcoin shifts that—it stops you from pursuing cash endlessly and allows you to use it for the life you need. What occurs when you’ve gotten sufficient of all the things you want? What then? With Bitcoin, that’s fully doable, and each Bitcoiner ought to be prepared with a solution for when it occurs. Chasing cash, although, is a bottomless pit you may’t fill. The Bible says the love of cash is the foundation of all evil. I agree, however how does it play out? What’s the mechanism? Chasing cash—making it the highest precedence and making the opposite issues lesser—is the mechanism.
You’re not constructing a Bitcoin normal—you’re stacking a deck. Like gold previously, you’re the one this time hoarding Bitcoin from folks and establishments, additional entrenching the fiat normal. Saylor, you’re not attacking the greenback as some imagine—you’re bolstering it by boosting your inventory and its ecosystem. As a substitute, you’re speculatively hitting those that fund your Bitcoin buys. You’re not simply hurting them; by strengthening the greenback, you’re amplifying the ache for different foreign money holders. Hoarding sats whereas the world watches? That’s not a cybercity—it’s a gated property funded by their very own cash.
I’m wondering if folks would wish to make investments their Bitcoin in your securities. What number of would truly do it? I’m positive true Bitcoin maximalists wouldn’t commerce their good retailer of worth asset for a fiat “instrument.” Ask your self: at this level, would you spend your Bitcoin to purchase Apple inventory? You probably did spend money on them earlier than, in any case. It is mindless—I’d provide you with Bitcoin simply so that you can flip it into some fiat factor, pay fiat charges, bolster fiat custodians and third events, solely so you should purchase Bitcoin once more on the opposite finish.
In the long run, I don’t have proof, however I’m pretty sure you already know all the things I’m saying on this article/message. Although it’s written to you, Michael, it’s geared toward those that see you as the brand new Bitcoin Jesus, blindly following with out questioning your actions. They make reckless bets in their very own lives—bets that might wipe out their Bitcoin—missing the monetary safeguards and rates of interest you’ve gotten. Your messages, which they echo, don’t apply to most of humanity.
Bitcoin isn’t simply one other asset or monetary device—it’s borderless, permissionless cash for the folks. Treating it in any other case diminishes its true price. Merely storing it gained’t convey freedom. Letting sats circulate builds the community. Letting sats circulate fosters cooperation for a greater future. Letting sats circulate strengthens the ecosystem. Retailer some for tomorrow, however don’t be the richest man within the grave—save them for plans that maintain them transferring later.
This can be a visitor submit by Ivan Makedonski. Opinions expressed are fully their very own and don’t essentially mirror these of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Journal.
