Bitcoin ETF approval was the ‘crossing of the chasm’ for its asset class size, says Michael Saylor

MicroStrategy Chairman Michael Saylor said the Bitcoin BTC +2.09% ETF approvals in January were not only important but cemented Bitcoin’s size as an asset class.

“The single most important thing that happened in this epic was the approval of the spot Bitcoin ETFs,” said Saylor on the What Bitcoin Did podcast. “That was the crossing of the chasm which said that Bitcoin is not a multi-one hundred billion dollar asset class, bitcoin is a ten to 100 trillion dollar asset class.”

While Saylor expressed his support of the approvals, he criticized the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for its approach to crypto more broadly. 

“In the meantime the SEC has basically been very obstructionist and at war with the entire crypto industry, suing all of the crypto exchanges, suing all of the entrepreneurs, and we got a very minimalist embracing of bitcoin,” he added.

Saylor pointed to two factors to explain his reasoning. He claimed the SEC has been stalling the approval of options trading on top of the spot Bitcoin ETFs (one of two potential big developments for the ETFs). He added that the SEC only allowed cash creates instead of in-kind redemptions, meaning investors aren’t able to swap their bitcoin directly for shares in the ETFs. “And so both of those make these spot ETFs inferior,” he noted.

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He also referenced the SEC’s rule 121, which requires banks to place digital assets on their balance sheet, something that is not normal procedure for custodial assets. Saylor argued that this has made it impossible for banks to custody bitcoin. 

“We got the minimal acceptance of bitcoin. But these other logical things: let the banks custody, let people hedge it, let them trade bitcoin for securities. These things are normal and customary in any other asset. They were denied. So we’re going at a very slow rate,” he said.

In the interview, Saylor also highlighted that crypto is becoming an increasingly political issue, arguing that crypto-positive candidates may find more votes in the upcoming U.S. election. Something that was certainly highlighted by Presidential candidate Donald Trump’s sudden embracing of Bitcoin over the weekend.

MicroStrategy has also continued to increase its bitcoin stash. Its last purchase was in March when it picked up a further 9,245 BTC, bringing its total holdings to 214,246 BTC — worth $15 billion.