Michael Saylor's Bitcoin Revolution by 2025—From Institutional Adoption to the Digital Credit Market

Michael Saylor (Founder and Chairman of Strategy) appeared on the “What Bitcoin Did” podcast, emphasizing that the true progress of Bitcoin lies not in short-term price movements but in the acceleration of institutional and foundational adoption. He explains in detail why 2025 has become a historic turning point and outlines Strategy’s vision for the digital credit market.

Accelerating Institutional Adoption and Completing the Infrastructure—Why 2025 Became a Turning Point

Saylor points out that 2025 is not just a year of price appreciation but a year when Bitcoin’s institutional foundation fundamentally changed. The number of companies holding Bitcoin on their balance sheets increased from about 30-60 in 2024 to approximately 200, significantly improving the fundamentals.

The infrastructure supporting institutional adoption has also rapidly advanced. The most important changes are as follows:

Revival of the Insurance System: Saylor himself experienced this issue; in 2020, when he purchased a large amount of Bitcoin, insurance companies canceled his policies. Over the next four years, he continued to pay tens of millions of dollars in premiums from his personal assets. By 2025, this situation dramatically improved, and insurance coverage for Bitcoin assets was restored.

Shift in Accounting Standards: With the introduction of fair value accounting, publicly listed companies can now recognize unrealized capital gains from Bitcoin holdings as profit. Previously, companies faced issues related to alternative minimum taxes on corporate profits, but this was resolved in 2025 through proactive government guidance.

Official Recognition by Governments: Bitcoin was officially recognized by governments as “the world’s leading and largest digital commodity,” dramatically improving traditional lending conditions. At the beginning of the year, only about $1 billion worth of Bitcoin collateral could secure loans of around 5 cents on the dollar, but by the end of the year, most major US banks had begun offering loans collateralized by Bitcoin ETFs (IBIT), and about one-third of banks announced plans for direct Bitcoin collateral loans.

Integration of Banking Systems: In early 2026, major banks like JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley are engaging in discussions about buying and selling Bitcoin, indicating full-scale industry participation. The Treasury Department has also issued positive guidelines on including cryptocurrencies on bank balance sheets, with support from the heads of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Maturation of Market Infrastructure: The CME (Chicago Mercantile Exchange) is progressing toward commercializing Bitcoin derivatives markets, with mechanisms introduced for physically issued and redeemed Bitcoin worth $1 million to be exchanged tax-free for IBIT worth $1 million, and vice versa. With these elements in place, the conditions necessary for Bitcoin’s commercialization, globalization, and institutionalization are fully established.

Do Not Be Distracted by Short-Term Price Fluctuations—Reevaluating Bitcoin’s Value from a Long-Term Perspective

While Bitcoin hit an all-time high at the end of October 2025, the market’s reaction to subsequent short-term price fluctuations is met with clear opposition from Saylor. He argues that short-term price predictions are inherently meaningless.

Spending time on short-term price forecasts contradicts Bitcoin’s core philosophy—“keeping temporal preferences low.” Looking at major ideological movements in history, many successful individuals have committed to long-term horizons of ten years or more. Moreover, some cases take 20 or 30 years to succeed. If the goal is Bitcoin’s commercialization, evaluating on a 90-day or 180-day basis is fundamentally the wrong time frame.

Saylor notes that, when considering a four-year moving average, Bitcoin shows a quite bullish trend. He is confident that 2026 will be an important year for the Bitcoin industry, but predicting prices a few months ahead is meaningless; what matters is that the industry is moving in the right direction.

He also suggests a paradoxical view: for investors who understand Bitcoin’s potential over the past 90 days, it has been an excellent opportunity to buy more. Short-term price dips are the time for long-term strategists to act.

Bitcoin = Universal Capital in the Digital Age—New Developments in Corporate Balance Sheet Strategies

In 2025, many treasury companies (those that make Bitcoin purchases part of their corporate strategy) emerged. Saylor strongly counters criticisms of a simple strategy of “selling stocks to buy Bitcoin.”

He explains that holding Bitcoin is fundamentally the same as owning a power infrastructure factory. Just as electricity is a universal capital powering all machinery, Bitcoin is a universal capital in the digital age. It is not merely a speculative commodity but a tool to enhance corporate productivity and profitability.

For example, consider a company losing $10 million annually that holds $100 million worth of Bitcoin, resulting in a $30 million capital gain. Who should criticize this company? Saylor argues that the issue is not the company’s purchase of Bitcoin but its ongoing losses—this is the real problem.

There are approximately 400 million companies worldwide. Saylor points out that the concern that the market will saturate with just about 200 Bitcoin-holding companies is negligible, given this enormous number. The fact that the market can accommodate all 400 million companies yet is considered saturated at 200 companies highlights that this is only the early stage of institutional adoption.

Holding Bitcoin is the most rational management decision. Is there a more efficient alternative to improve a company’s balance sheet and increase profits? According to Saylor, no such alternative exists.

Strategy’s Digital Credit Strategy—Building a New Financial Market with Dollar Reserves and Bitcoin Collateral

Saylor’s primary interest is not the price of Bitcoin itself but the creation of a new financial market based on Bitcoin as foundational capital. Strategy aims to create an entirely new financial product called “Digital Credit.”

The reason the company is not entering banking is not due to regulatory constraints but to maintain strategic focus. Saylor’s policy is to concentrate management resources on developing top-tier digital credit products. Competing with customers would be the most foolish management decision.

Strategy is currently working on increasing corporate creditworthiness by establishing dollar reserves, thereby enhancing appeal to digital credit investors. Since credit investors are concerned about volatility in Bitcoin and stocks, they seek the most stable asset base. Holding dollar reserves makes the company’s credit products more convincing.

According to Saylor’s estimates, the potential size of the digital credit market is about $10 trillion. If they capture just 10% of the US Treasury market, that alone would amount to a $10 trillion market. Compared to traditional senior credit and corporate credit markets, the digital credit market remains entirely untapped.

Furthermore, Saylor emphasizes the limitless possibilities of financial products utilizing Bitcoin collateral. These include Bitcoin-collateralized derivatives, exchanges, and even Bitcoin-collateralized insurance businesses—restructuring all financial functions. Currently, no insurance companies worldwide use Bitcoin as collateral or capital, indicating a vast opportunity for industry innovation.

Saylor points out that the value of corporate stocks is influenced not only by current capital utilization but also by future business development potential. The existence of unimplemented projects at Strategy does not mean they cannot be executed. The company’s vision is to position Bitcoin as digital capital and grow digital credit into a global financial market.

From this strategic perspective, it is understandable that after 2026, the Bitcoin ecosystem will shift from merely pursuing price appreciation to deepening institutional foundations and fundamentally restructuring financial markets. What Michael Saylor and Strategy suggest is that an era has arrived where Bitcoin becomes industrialized and fundamentally transforms the financial system itself.