Michael Saylor Triggers BTC Community with "Paranoid Crypto Anarchist" Statement

Michael Saylor, founder of MicroStrategy, shared a link to a fresh interview of his. One curious statement he made about BTC owners who prefer to keep their private keys to themselves over lack of trust in the government drew the attention of the crypto community since, in this statement, Saylor was somewhat critical of them.

Saylor's Bitcoin interview

In the tweet that accompanies the link to the interview, Saylor states that this conversation addresses “popular myths and risks that hinder Bitcoin adoption.” The host of the conversation was YouTuber Madison Reidy, who interviews experts on financial markets.

Extracts of this interview have been separately published on X by other crypto enthusiasts. One of the statements that caught the attention of the Bitcoin community was the statement made by MicroStrategy’s Saylor about those who prefer self-custody to hedge funds like BlackRock.

Madison Reidy’s question about this was if there are any risks posed on those people who prefer to hold Bitcoin with custodians and whether it increases the risks of having their Bitcoin confiscated and seized by the U.S. government in the future. Here, she made a historical reference to the Great Depression, when the government confiscated gold from wealthy American citizens.

In 1933, during the Depression, President Roosevelt announced that gold holders should turn their gold bullion and coins in and get $20.67 per ounce in return. Back then, the U.S. dollar was on the gold standard, and after collecting the gold, Roosevelt raised the price per ounce to $35. The gold inflow from holders and the printing of dollars that followed was one of the radical measures that allowed the U.S. to steer out of the Depression.

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"Paranoid crypto anarchists" who hold Bitcoin

Saylor stated that “when Bitcoin is held by a bunch of crypto anarchists, who aren’t regulated entities, who don’t acknowledge government or don’t acknowledge taxes, or don’t acknowledge reporting requirements, that increases the risk of seizure.”

Saylor claimed that only “paranoid Bitcoin anarchists” fear that Bitcoin can be seized from them, and he claimed that gold was not seized in 1933 but turned in voluntarily. Since the U.S. is not on the Bitcoin standard, he said, there is nothing to be afraid of.

The community was stunned by these words, reacting strongly in the comments.