Part 5/15:
Amid this chaos, Michael’s focus shifted to how corporate treasuries could safeguard and grow their capital amid zero-interest-rate environments. Conventional wisdom advocated holding cash or short-term Treasuries, but at 0–3% yields, these assets were losing real value due to inflation and inflationary policies.
He explored alternative investments—real estate, art, the stock market—but found regulatory and practical limits, especially for publicly traded companies. The breakthrough came with Bitcoin: a new asset class offering scarcity, transparency, and potential for significant appreciation. The move to allocate a part of MicroStrategy’s cash reserve to Bitcoin, starting around 2020, was both tactical and ideological.