Michael Saylor, you have been pressured to understand that each one the store-of-value belongings are faulty and pushed you to deal with the one asset that isn’t. That doesn’t make you resistant to seeing the medium of trade case. You will notice how the housing market is large whenever you watch it from one viewpoint 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 software to maintain it.
Your SoV obsession misses the mark—badly. The largest facet of Bitcoin is the medium of trade. Though the fiat system more and more separates cash’s capabilities, 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 forex 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’ll put cash in it, however merely utilizing Bitcoin simply to retailer worth is attacking it. That method will flip it into digital gold 2.0, captured.
There’s no retailer of worth and not using 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 saying 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 could actually transfer and nonetheless can be utilized as a medium of trade.
An oxygen tank is significant for reserves, however respiratory issues extra. The shop of worth is secondary and depends on the flexibility 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 flexibility to trade is what allows you to reply.
By now, most individuals uncovered to Bitcoin know the chart from Jesse Mayers that you just popularized. You declare there’s no higher thought 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, but it surely’s such a poor medium of trade that it solely trades for $1.3 trillion yearly. Laws and taxes make buying and selling actual property even more durable. Nonetheless, because it’s greater than 100 occasions higher as a retailer of worth, billionaires prize it, more and more dominating the market and pricing out youthful generations.
A home is likely to be worthwhile, however its price grows not simply from what it’s however from its ties to close by utilities. Construct a street 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 movement 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 facet: if you happen to’re a billionaire and everybody’s after your sources, you don’t need a massive community round your home. You’d prioritize privateness as a substitute. The home may lose worth, however the objective shifts to elevating the price 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. Which means 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 individuals 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 reveals their power as a medium of trade exceeds their retailer of worth function. Take your MicroStrategy inventory—you recognize 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 attention-grabbing. 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 annually, but it surely 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 motive—but it’s simply 1.78% of the shop of worth market. This reveals that after its medium of trade function was stripped away, it turned weak 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 may 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 occasions greater 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 occasions its retailer of worth function.
Cash may not dominate as a retailer of worth amongst belongings, but it surely’s the main medium of trade by far. Different shops of worth belongings don’t even come shut. What if the greenback, the highest forex, turned only a retailer of worth? It will collapse the USD community, boosting the worth of non-US belongings as their networks step in to fulfill the demand. Over time, their retailer of worth belongings would rise whereas USD belongings would plummet. World cash totals round $120 trillion, however have 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 resulting from 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 occasions larger, which is round ~$2.5 quadrillion. What would the medium of trade worth be if 2 billion unbanked individuals 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 overall probably approaches $4 trillion. This implies that Bitcoin’s function as a medium of trade is twice as important 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 fake to be cash as a result of fiat forex 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 simply instruments to siphon worth from the fiat medium of trade, channeling it to privileged people and billionaires and others alike with a must hoard?
Globally, solely 10-20% of individuals have publicity to bonds, largely not directly by means of pension or funding funds, indirectly. For equities, 15-25% of the inhabitants has some entry. That leaves at finest 80% of humanity with out these instruments to guard themselves, making them weak 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 belongings, 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 massive a part of the entire system is the charges. There are charges for sending {dollars} by way of the banking system, and that could be a service, however how a lot are the charges whenever you need 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 an increasing number of into the medium of extraction somewhat than for trade. That is additionally a motive why the shop of worth case is extra interesting within the fiat system.
Bitcoin shouldn’t be pretending to be cash like every part 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 finest. Even these with out Bitcoin can use it to form their lives into the lives they want. Transferring 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 thought isn’t storing worth—it’s shifting it. However to maneuver worth, you first must have some saved. Then once more, to have some saved, somebody wants to maneuver some your method first. That’s why the wealthy choose belongings 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 motive could possibly be the trouble concerned. With a retailer of worth, you purchase and hodl—no work wanted to enhance your life. With a medium of trade, you should work to develop your financial savings, persuading others to pay on your items or companies in Bitcoin. One other issue: for many, their fiat portfolio nonetheless outweighs their Bitcoin one. Solely when Bitcoin surpasses their fiat holdings will they take into account enhancing their lives with it. That shift isn’t robust for a lot of the world’s inhabitants, who lack financial savings or belongings 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 help ossification, but when Bitcoin isn’t used to succeed in extra individuals, you’re delaying it. In contrast to you, America knew that to make the greenback the world’s reserve forex, they needed to distribute it extensively 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 value 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, but it surely overlooks the necessity for a gradual 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 anxious 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 every part 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 possibly can’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 commonplace—you’re stacking a deck. Like gold previously, you’re the one this time hoarding Bitcoin from individuals and establishments, additional entrenching the fiat commonplace. Saylor, you’re not attacking the greenback as some imagine—you’re bolstering it by boosting your inventory and its ecosystem. As an alternative, 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 forex holders. Hoarding sats whereas the world watches? That’s not a cybercity—it’s a gated property funded by their very own cash.
I ponder if individuals would need to make investments their Bitcoin in your securities. What number of would really do it? I’m positive true Bitcoin maximalists wouldn’t commerce their excellent 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 spite of everything. It is mindless—I’d offer you 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 buy Bitcoin once more on the opposite finish.
In the long run, I don’t have proof, however I’m pretty sure you already know every part I’m saying on this article/message. Although it’s written to you, Michael, it’s aimed 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 would 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 software—it’s borderless, permissionless cash for the individuals. Treating it in any other case diminishes its true price. Merely storing it received’t convey freedom. Letting sats movement builds the community. Letting sats movement fosters cooperation for a greater future. Letting sats movement strengthens the ecosystem. Retailer some for tomorrow, however don’t be the richest man within the grave—save them for plans that maintain them shifting later.
It is a visitor put up by Ivan Makedonski. Opinions expressed are fully their very own and don’t essentially replicate these of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Journal.
