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Video From a Conversation on Crypto With Michael Saylor

Bitcoin expert Michael Saylor discusses the strategy behind investments in bitcoin.

On Wednesday, April 6, 2022, Washingtonian president and CEO Catherine Merrill interviewed Michael J. Saylor, chairman and CEO of MicroStrategy Inc. and world-renowned bitcoin expert.

The conversation kicked off with a focus on what bitcoin is and the differences between it and other cryptocurrencies. “Bitcoin is engineered to be this base layer of the entire economy/monetary network. The thing that is unique about it is that it’s been copied hundreds of thousands of times and there have been 20,000 different cryptos that have been launched. The issue is, which one is best suited to be the fundamental, technical, and ethical base layer of the cyber economy,” said Saylor. “Bitcoin today is the winner of this global struggle to see what will be the dominant digital monetary asset in the world.”

The conversation then dove deeper to discuss fears of coming crypto regulations. “The regulation that is coming is going to be really good for bitcoin and it’s good for digital property adoption because it’s going to create bright lines that cause an avalanche of institutional money to come into the space and buy the asset. The regulation is good. The tax treatment was set by the IRS in 2014, it’s just property and if you sell it at a capital gain you owe capital gains, either long term or short term capital gains, so that’s not really misunderstood. What you want to do is you want to buy it and hold it for as long as you can and if you need money you borrow against the asset and that way you don’t pay the capital gains tax ever, but if you do sell it or transfer it you owe capital gains tax.

Missed the event? You can view the full conversation below, or read a transcript here: