A trove of mixed feelings trailed the crypto community as one of its foremost Bitcoin evangelists, Michael Saylor, announced an additional purchase of 2,500 BTCs. In a tweet yesterday afternoon, Saylor disclosed that his company had gone Bitcoin shopping over the last seven weeks at a price of approximately $16,500 per BTC, bringing the company’s total BTC stack to 132,500.
Saylor’s tweet sparked mixed reactions as a camp of crypto enthusiasts hailed the move as encouraging, while others warned of the risks of centralization. Previous buys had earned the 57-year-old crypto proponent the title “gigachad” and with the new purchase, Saylor is to be known as a ‘rockstar.’
The duo of Willy Woo and Dan Held – popular crypto analysts – took turns to explain Saylor’s move as both healthy and unhealthy for crypto. Woo added that Bitcoiners should only celebrate the adoption of Bitcoin by: “normal people using it to solve problems.” In a clap back, Dan Held labelled the fear of centralization as “unnecessary” as network structure and control of Bitcoin remains decentralized regardless, and holding power does not necessarily translate to control of the distribution. Held’s counter-argument hinged based on the fact that the purchase of Bitcoin can not be controlled or regulated if decentralization is anything to go by.
Amidst surrounding arguments, this round of purchases marks the fifth Saylor’s company has made since 2022 – a stash originally worth over $4 billion and with a growing loss value to the tune of $1.9 billion.
Michael’s dedication to promoting Bitcoin has created a small cesspool of pro-Bitcoin devotees eager to keep buying and continue holding till the embattled crypto trailblazer flashes a hopeful silver lining.
But the Virginia-based company itself, many have not stayed true to the buy-and-hold mission. In July, rumours erupted of a possible sell-off to the tune of approximately 132,000 BTC as online data tracking website, Cryptoquant, traced the transaction to a Coinbase-based wallet address. But as financial reports have shown, Saylor’s only recent sell-off happened barely a week ago, and it was for the reasons of offsetting capital gains that 704 BTCs were sold.
The embattled crypto believer still remains optimistic about a green comeback for Bitcoin even as he hopes to come out of a tax evasion charge by the District of Columbia, which implicates MicroStrategy.
With the latest purchase, MicroStrategy has become the largest institutional holder of Bitcoin.