MicroStrategy with a

Macro Outlook

“This is not a speculation, nor a hedge. It is a deliberate corporate strategy to adopt the Bitcoin Standard.” — Michael Saylor, CEO of MicroStrategy

Case Study Preamble

When a company converts 85% of their company cash reserves into bitcoin, it is worth asking why. It is also worth asking how, but that will come later. Most people are familiar with Bitcoin on the level of hearing it in the news every few years when it has experienced significant price movements. However, the majority of us have not taken the time to consider Bitcoin as a legitimate form of money. In March of 2020, MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor was forced by geo-political, and economic circumstances to consider Bitcoin as a store of value (SoV), Unit of Account (UoA), and Medium of Exchange (MoE). In other words, Michael Saylor started to consider Bitcoin as money. His investigation led his company, MicroStrategy to purchase $425 million worth of bitcoin by mid September 2020. Saylor has since been outspoken about this bold move for his publicly traded company to adopt the Bitcoin Standard. This case study aims to explore the reasons why Michael Saylor and the MicroStrategy board did what they did.

Not Just an Individual Decision

Michael Saylor has received the bulk of the attention and recognition for the company decision to convert cash reserves into Bitcoin. The reality of the situation is that MicroStrategy would not have been able to make this decision without the majority vote of the MicroStrategy board. The board is made up of five individuals, including Saylor. This drastically changes how the decision is conceptualized and perceived by the public as it means the decision cannot be seen as a radical move by an out-of-control CEO. Instead, a different narrative starts to emerge. The reality is that the board unanimously agreed to move the company onto a Bitcoin Standard.