Cathie Wood And Michael Saylor Take A Victory Lap Over Bitcoin Skeptics Coming Around

Taking the stage at the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami, MicroStategy CEO Michael Saylor and Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood argued the case that the environment has never been more bullish for Bitcoin.

Walking through the current landscape with lenses focused on the macroeconomic environment, regulatory issues, and the level of capital markets acceptance, or capitulation as they see it, Saylor and Wood see a world where bitcoin will succeed no matter what happens in the world. In fact, Wood repeated a prediction made by her firm that each bitcoin will be worth $1 million by the year 2030.

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The talk centered on how previous bitcoin skeptics are coming around to take positive dispositions towards the asset. Wood highlighted what she saw as a major about-face for Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, whose commentary and public speeches have consistently warned about the negative implications of bitcoin and other digital assets for financial markets and consumer welfare.

However, in a recent interview with CNBC she said, “Crypto has obviously grown by leaps and bounds, and is now playing a significant role not really so much in transactions but in investment decisions of lots of Americans…There are benefits from crypto, and we recognize the innovation in the payment system can be a healthy thing.”

Saylor said he saw President Biden’s recent executive order dictating government agencies to study digital assets and assess their potential as the green light to Bitcoin. As far as he knows, “The President of the U.S. has never directed the government to embrace a new asset class,” he added.

Turning to capital markets, Saylor recalled an anecdote where he was essentially mocked by analysts at Merrill Lynch two years ago when he told them that he wanted to buy bitcoin with some of MicroStrategy’s funds at the bank. “They laughed at me and said, not only will I not sell it to you, we’re not allowed to talk about it or we get fired.” In recalling the story he told the audience that he quickly wired $175 million out of the bank, and the ultimate comeuppance is that “Now my inbox has bitcoin research from Merrill Lynch, sent to me by the same broker. Like we’re covering it now. This is what we think. So every bulge bracket farm is starting to cover it.”

Finally, both Saylor and Wood see bitcoin as an essential hedge and store of value amidst the current macroeconomic climate, which continues to struggle in the midst of rising inflation, uncertainty stemming from the rising impact of sanctions on Russia, and ongoing coronavirus surges around the world. In particular, Saylor noted, “Although the issues are unfortunate and unpleasant for the world, they each underscore the use case for a global non-sovereign store of value such as bitcoin.”

However, while both see bitcoin succeeding in the long-term, the asset is not immune to short-term macroeconomic headwinds. Wood sees it as a fallacy that investors bucket bitcoin into tech stocks, (which are currently struggling), hoping that that correlation will weaken over time as the asset gets more acceptance.

Bitcoin has also struggled in recent days, dropping 5% from above $47,000 to $43,375 as of 12:08pm ET.