Michael Saylor, like President Donald Trump, wants the United States to lead in cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies, and Saylor has outlined how this could be achieved in a recently released framework proposal.
Michael Saylor has outlined a detailed proposal aimed at positioning the United States as a global leader in the digital economy. Michael Saylor is an American entrepreneur, investor, and best known as the co-founder and executive chairman of MicroStrategy, a company specializing in business intelligence, software, and cloud-based services.
In recent years, Saylor has become one of the most vocal and influential advocates for Bitcoin. Under his leadership, MicroStrategy became the first publicly traded company to adopt Bitcoin as a primary treasury reserve asset, purchasing billions of dollars worth of Bitcoin. Saylor argues that Bitcoin is a superior store of value compared to traditional assets like cash and gold, citing its potential as a hedge against inflation.
His framework for the Trump-led government focuses on creating a clear structure for digital asset markets to foster innovation and drive economic growth.
Saylor’s plan includes digital commodities such as Bitcoin, digital securities backed by equity or debt, and digital currencies tied to fiat money. It also covers digital tokens and NFTs that offer utility, along with asset-backed tokens linked to physical resources like gold or oil.
Issuers and custody transparency
According to Saylor, the government should make it easier for token issuers and exchanges to design, release, and manage digital tokens. “Allow exchanges to collect and publish asset data as a service to the industry and investors,” he said, but must ensure transparency and ethical behavior.
He also stated that exchanges must protect client assets and maintain fairness, while owners must comply with local laws. He believes that all participants should be accountable for their actions, ensuring no one has the right to deceive or exploit others.
The US SEC’s regulatory approach has not been favorable to issuers and exchanges in the cryptocurrency space. By classifying many cryptocurrencies as securities, the SEC forces issuers to comply with complex and burdensome registration and disclosure requirements, often leading to legal battles and financial setbacks.
Issuers, especially those conducting Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), encounter major challenges under SEC regulations. The SEC has taken enforcement actions against companies that issued tokens without proper registration, alleging violations of securities laws.
In 2019, the SEC successfully halted Telegram’s $1.7 billion ICO, ruling that its “Grams” token qualified as an unregistered security. As a result, Telegram was compelled to return funds to investors, and its plans to distribute the tokens were blocked. In a similar case, Ripple Labs faced the SEC in a prolonged battle, with the SEC arguing that the company’s sale of XRP tokens violated securities laws.
Exchanges also face regulatory pressure under the SEC’s stringent laws. The SEC mandates that exchanges listing or facilitating the trading of securities register as securities exchanges or broker-dealers. Non-compliance can lead to enforcement actions. For instance, the SEC has scrutinized Coinbase over the tokens it lists, questioning whether some should be classified as securities.
In 2023, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Binance, accusing the exchange of offering unregistered securities to U.S. customers. These allegations jeopardized Binance’s ability to operate in the U.S.
Reduce cost of managing digital assets
For the former CEO of Microstrategy, there’s a need for rational and practical compliance measures to encourage innovation. He suggests limiting the costs of issuing and maintaining digital assets, standardizing disclosures, and streamlining the issuance process.
In his proposal, Saylor suggests that the process of creating and issuing digital assets should be significantly faster and more affordable. Rather than taking months or years, issuers should be able to create and launch digital assets within just a few hours or days.
He also aims to drastically cut the costs of issuing these assets, reducing expenses from tens or hundreds of millions of dollars to just a few thousand.
Specifically, he proposed that the government “limit costs to no more than 1% of AUM to issue an asset.” He further recommended that the U.S. should “limit costs to no more than 10 basis points annually to maintain an asset listing.”
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Saylor believes that if implemented correctly, this approach could open up U.S. capital markets to over 40 million small businesses, artists, celebrities, and mid-sized companies. This would challenge the traditional system that confines capital market participation to about 4,000 public companies.
He envisions a world where far more types of digital assets become available, including tokenized forms of commodities, real estate, art, companies, sports teams, collectibles, intellectual property, and brands. Financial instruments such as stocks, bonds, and currencies would also be tokenized, along with products, services, and projects that deliver value to customers, investors, and fans.
Bitcoin reserve
He again pointed out the need for a “Bitcoin reserve to generate trillions in wealth, potentially offsetting the national debt.” The US debt currently stands at $31.4 trillion, with projections reaching over $45 trillion by 2030.
He predicts that these factors could expand digital currency markets from $25 billion to $10 trillion, creating enormous demand for US Treasuries. He also anticipates global digital capital markets growing from $2 trillion to $280 trillion, with US investors capturing the majority of this wealth.
Saylor expects digital assets (beyond Bitcoin) to surge from $1 trillion to $590 trillion, with the United States leading the industry. Finally, he forecasts that the Bitcoin reserve could generate $16–81 trillion in wealth for the US Treasury.
