A recent interview with Michael Saylor, the executive chairman and founder of MicroStrategy, has revealed the company’s strategic use of Bitcoin and its potential in transforming both businesses and national cybersecurity. MicroStrategy, the first publicly listed company to add Bitcoin to its balance sheet, saw its enterprise market value increase from $600 million to over $6 billion since its adoption of the digital currency. Saylor compared Bitcoin’s performance to other treasury assets like bonds, gold, and silver, remarking that it has been the number one performing asset.
Saylor also explained how the Lightning Network, an open-permissionless protocol for secure transactions worldwide, could revolutionize businesses and national cybersecurity. He noted that the current system for moving money through credit networks run by banks is not only time-consuming but also incurs high fees. On the other hand, the Lightning Network can facilitate 40 transactions in about a minute, making money transfers faster and cheaper.
Saylor further emphasized the potential of the Lightning Network in facilitating instant and final settlement transactions on an open, permissionless and programmable protocol. He stressed the importance of trust for millions of companies to collaborate, which can only be achieved through a protocol that everyone shares and no one controls. He suggested that Bitcoin could help verify users’ identities to combat AI-driven toxicity across different networks, including social media platforms.
Touching on the importance of incorporating a small deposit, Saylor highlighted the need to ensure truth and integrity when moving through cyberspace. He suggested that such a deposit would create friction, deterring hackers from launching large-scale phishing or cyber attacks. He lauded Bitcoin as the most trustworthy truth network in the world, with the ability to inscribe, encrypt, and place a document on the Bitcoin network, rendering it impossible to tamper with or erase.
Saylor also discussed the importance of Bitcoin for national cybersecurity, likening Bitcoin to a decentralized, tamper-proof network that can secure digital transactions. He argued that the security of the Bitcoin network stems from its decentralized nodes and the network of Bitcoin miners who generate digital power. He even drew comparisons between the significance of different types of power, such as land, naval, air, nuclear, space power, and the emerging “digital power.”
In the face of future conflicts likely to be fought in cyberspace, Saylor argued that Bitcoin, being the world’s greatest cyber defense system, will play a crucial role in national cybersecurity. He envisioned a future where digital energy and power from Bitcoin miners will be critical in defending cyber systems that control future combatants in wars.
Saylor concluded by describing how businesses could be transformed by integrating Bitcoin and the Lightning Network, using microtransactions and streaming to incentivize users and build long-term monetary relationships. He reiterated Bitcoin’s stability and sound basis for running a digital monetary network and emphasized its potential in transforming businesses and national cybersecurity over the next decade.
