Tech entrepreneur Michael Saylor co-founded MicroStrategy, an enterprise software company now doing business as Strategy, in 1989. However, the billionaire businessman has been laser focused in recent years on something totally different from his original area of expertise.
Saylor is extremely bullish on a leading cryptocurrency. Based on his optimistic stance, there's one popular BlackRock exchange-traded fund (ETF) that could absolutely skyrocket. Here's what investors need to know about this exciting prediction.
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Saylor's 2046 price target
Saylor is incredibly bullish on Bitcoin. Seeing how much the federal debt and money supply was ballooning after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Saylor realized that holding cash or Treasuries was a losing game. MicroStrategy first purchased Bitcoin for its own balance sheet in August 2020.
Since then, the billionaire has completely altered his company's playbook. Its value is driven by a Bitcoin treasury strategy, raising capital in the fixed income and equity markets to aggressively buy more of the digital asset. Strategy now owns just under 629,000 Bitcoin units, according to bitcointreasuries.net.
That enormous position isn't surprising when you consider Saylor's view that Bitcoin's price could reach $21 million by 2046. Compared to Bitcoin's current price of about $114,000, this target implies nearly 18,000% upside. This target is significantly higher than his 2045 base case of $13 million, which he made one year ago.
I don't think Saylor's thesis changes much. It's all about Bitcoin being able to capture a greater share of global wealth over time. This capital could come from different asset classes, like the stock market, fixed income, or real estate. What's more, important catalysts, like the launch of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), as well as more favorable regulation, give support to Saylor's more bullish stance.
Increasing accessibility and convenience for investors
Because of Saylor's jaw-dropping 2046 price target for Bitcoin, it's not a shock that a related financial instrument has similar upside. The iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT 0.84%), an ETF offered by BlackRock, tracks the price of Bitcoin. If Saylor believes Bitcoin will rise almost 18,000% in 21 years, then the same view applies to the iShares Bitcoin Trust.
This investment vehicle has been wildly successful since it was approved and introduced in January 2024. As of July 31, it had $86 billion in assets, making it the largest spot Bitcoin ETF on the market.
The iShares Bitcoin Trust has been a huge hit because it made Bitcoin a legitimate financial asset from the perspective of a major Wall Street firm, BlackRock. This likely reduced the risk of gaining exposure in the eyes of both individual and institutional investors.
It helps that this ETF essentially increases accessibility and convenience for investors. There's no need to sign up for separate account with a crypto-focused brokerage platform, as the iShares Bitcoin Trust is offered through traditional brokerage accounts. And investors can skip learning about private keys and self-custody practices used to hold the coin directly. Paying the ETF expense ratio of 0.25% might be worth it to avoid these possible headaches.
However, investors in the iShares Bitcoin Trust must understand that they do not own Bitcoin directly. This is a key distinction that cannot be overlooked. And it goes against the Bitcoin philosophy of people being in control of their own private keys, not relying on third parties, and decentralization.
Investors in the iShares Bitcoin Trust aren't able to use Bitcoin like a direct owner can. With the ETF, you can't send Bitcoin to whomever you want. And you certainly can't use Bitcoin in a transaction.
But for some investors, this isn't a deal-breaker. It's all about having exposure to Bitcoin, which could be worth much more decades from now.
