Faced with a surge of regulatory enforcement actions, MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor believes the United States crypto industry is poised for a “Bitcoin-focused” future. In an interview with Bloomberg, the executive chairman of the business intelligence software firm claimed that recent declarations from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are “laying the foundation” for the next Bitcoin bull run.
Saylor stated that regulatory clarity would drive Bitcoin adoption by eliminating the confusion and anxiety holding back institutional investors. This uncertainty stems from other “crypto securities” for which regulators “don’t see a legitimate path forward” in the United States. “They have a view of crypto exchanges which is far constrained,” Saylor added. He claims that the SEC’s view is that crypto exchanges should trade and hold pure digital commodities like Bitcoin.
The SEC recently sued Coinbase, the largest crypto exchange in the US, alleging that the company listed over a dozen securities on its platform without registering as a securities exchange. The agency has generally been reluctant to comment on whether a specific token classifies as security until filing a lawsuit, a practice for which it has received criticism from both the industry and Congress. However, the SEC has ruled out considering Bitcoin a security, deeming it sufficiently decentralized to classify as a commodity.
Taking this into account, Saylor believes that the regulatory crackdown on stablecoins and other tokens will likely send Bitcoin’s long-term dominance back above 80% of the total crypto market. He remarked, “The public is beginning to realize that Bitcoin is the next Bitcoin,” and posited that the next logical step is for Bitcoin to experience significant growth from its current position, potentially increasing tenfold or more.
Saylor’s company, one of the world’s largest holders of Bitcoin, now possesses 140,000 BTC, bought at an average price of $29,803 per coin. MicroStrategy has steered clear of other crypto tokens, deeming Bitcoin the “only institutional grade investable asset in the crypto space.”
Interestingly, Michael Saylor has previously argued that Ethereum (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, is a security. He justifies this claim by pointing to Ethereum’s initial coin offering, pre-mine, and management team. This highlights the ongoing complexity and debates surrounding the classification of cryptocurrencies and how regulators should approach the rapidly evolving industry.
Source: Decrypt
