The Middle East has a chance to become “the Switzerland of the 21st century” by adopting bitcoin-backed banking, credit and digital currency, said Michael Saylor, executive chairman of Strategy (MSTR).
In a high-profile presentation at Bitcoin MENA, Saylor urged the region to seize what he described as a $200 trillion opportunity by allowing banks to hold bitcoin, offer BTC-backed credit, and ultimately launch yield-generating digital currency products.
“If you want to make your country the digital banking capital of the world…if you want to be the Switzerland of the 21st century, then here are the three ideas: the big, the biggest and the greatest,” Saylor told the audience.
A “big idea,” Saylor said, was for sovereign wealth funds to invest in bitcoin. A “bigger idea” was to create banks that held Bitcoin and extended credit to it. The “bigger” idea was to create digital currency accounts backed by BTC credit instruments, offering up to 8% returns with no volatility.
“You’re not going to get a little bit of bitcoin out of it,” Saylor said. “In fact, you will take away billions, tens of billions, hundreds of billions and billions of dollars of capital from people who don’t understand Bitcoin. »
Saylor asserted that the United States is now leading the global regulatory shift toward Bitcoin, highlighting what he described as near-unanimous support from government officials. “There is a deep consensus among all those who lead the United States,” he said. “Donald J. Trump says he intends to make America the bitcoin superpower, the crypto capital of the world, the leader in digital assets.”
He added that he has spoken personally with the vice president, the Treasury secretary, the head of the SEC, the Commerce secretary and other top officials, all of whom Saylor said view bitcoin as a strategic asset.
Saylor also said that U.S. banks that once refused to touch bitcoin are now actively working to support it.
“Every major bank in the United States went from stopping Bitcoin banking 12 months ago to, in the last six months, I’ve been approached by BNY Mellon, by Wells Fargo, by Bank of America, by Charles Schwab, by JPMorgan, by Citi,” he said. “They are all starting to issue credits against Bitcoin or against Bitcoin derivatives like IBIT.”
Strategy holds over 660,000 BTC and now issues a range of BTC-backed credit instruments, including perpetual preferred shares and short-term notes that pay monthly dividends.
“We convert a duration of 120 or 240 months into one month,” he said. “Pay me now.”
Saylor presented these innovations as the foundation of a new type of financial system. “Digital capital creates digital credit, and digital credit creates digital money,” he said. “It’s the application that kills.”
