Source: CoinDesk; Translated by: Deng Tong, Jinse Finance
Summary
Strategy Chairman Michael Saylor predicts that by 2045, Bitcoin will become a $200 trillion asset class and transform into the global settlement layer of the AI-driven internet era. He believes that the United States' adoption of a Bitcoin strategic reserve will consolidate its dominant position, forcing global adoption.
Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) has accumulated over 500,000 Bitcoins using $33 billion, utilizing innovative financial tools like convertible bonds and preferred stocks to fund its corporate Bitcoin treasury, and financially designed a self-sustaining price appreciation cycle.
Saylor states that destroying his Bitcoin holdings would bring "economic immortality".
This is 2045. Digital assets flow at the speed of light. AI agents interact millions of times per second, using Bitcoin as the base currency. Bitcoin is now a $200 trillion asset class, the settlement layer of the internet AI era.
This is the future imagined by Bitcoin evangelist and Strategy (MSTR) Executive Chairman Michael Saylor. Saylor pioneered the Bitcoin corporate financial system - transforming his struggling software company into a $85 billion leveraged Bitcoin giant listed on NASDAQ.
[The rest of the translation continues in the same professional and accurate manner, maintaining the original structure and meaning while translating to English.]Strategy raised approximately $3.3 billion through this financial engineering to purchase 500 million bitcoins. This sparked online debates about Strategy's ability to pay dividends or bond maturities if the market deteriorates or new capital cannot be raised. This money might not come from existing company cash flow: according to MarketWatch, Strategy's software profits are negligible; profits were negative from 2020-2023.
All of this keeps Saylor awake at night. Therefore, Strategy retains all options.
"When equity capital markets give us a huge premium, we will sell equity," Saylor said. "If our leverage is too high, we will deleverage. If we feel the capital markets are really not suitable for selling any securities, we will stop and wait."
Last week, Strategy used proceeds from selling MSTR common stock to purchase an additional 6,911 bitcoins at $584 million, bringing its bitcoin holdings to over 500,000 tokens. They further announced that their new STRF permanent issuance raised $711 million to buy more bitcoin, exceeding their initial target of $500 million.
This latest series of preferred shares differs from the initial STRK issuance with a higher coupon rate (10% vs 8%) and no common stock conversion clause. Both companies' prospectuses explicitly list risk factors, including no obligation to pay cumulative dividends "for any reason".
The strategy also eliminated any collateralized debt, thereby removing the liquidation risk of the company's bitcoin assets.
"We have built an impregnable balance sheet. Bitcoin could drop 99%. No margin call notices. The constructed tools have no bitcoin as collateral," Saylor said.
Strategy's debt: convertible bonds and maturity dates.
Ultimately, the key date is the loan maturity date offered to bondholders. The first "maturity date" is September 16, 2027. If Strategy fails to incentivize bondholders to convert bonds to MSTR stock or persuade them to wait for the second year to repay principal, these bondholders might demand Strategy repurchase their $1.8 billion loan in cash. If the market remains eager for bitcoin investment, raising funds and repaying investors will become easier. If the market slumps and Wall Street's funding dries up, Strategy might have to consider selling its bitcoin or defaulting.
Strategy Chairman Michael Saylor AI Portrait
"Economic Immortality"
Saylor states that Strategy, like the US government, will "never sell" its bitcoin. He has bet everything on bitcoin prices rising forever and on the community's idealized concepts of sovereignty, sound money, freedom, and property rights.
Before his death, Saylor might burn bitcoins instead of donating his assets. That would be a "more ethical and rational form of charity" and would confer "economic immortality".
"If I believe this and burn these keys, I make everyone in the bitcoin network richer and more powerful," Saylor said. "From now until forever, we are together. So, yes, this is my legacy."
