Here's Why Bitcoin Will 10X From Here: Michael Saylor

"You can never have too much bitcoin (BTC)," said Michael Saylor, appearing on CNBC one day after his company MicroStrategy (MSTR) reported its third-quarter earnings.

That Saylor is a bitcoin bull will not exactly come as breaking news, but he took note of a number of specific near- to medium-term catalysts.

First among them is what's soon be a sizable reduction in supply coming alongside a surge in demand. Bitcoin miners, said Saylor, need to sell bitcoin in order to keep the lights on, and he noted those sales are currently running at about $1 billion per month. The halving – expected to occur in April 2024 – however, means miners will soon have only half of that available to sell.

"You're going to see $12 billion of natural selling per year converted into $6 billion of natural selling per year," he said. At the same time, he noted, spot bitcoin ETFs are going to be a source of increased buying pressure.

Secondly, there are soon to be new rules implementing fair value accounting for company bitcoin holdings. "Long term," said Saylor, "this is going to open the door for corporations to adopt bitcoin as a treasury asset and create shareholder value with their balance sheets."

Read more: FASB Says Crypto Assets Should Be Marked at Current Values

Finally, Saylor addressed the current news cycle, including the fraud trial of former crypto wonder-kid Sam Bankman-Fried. "Early crypto cowboys, the crypto tokens that are unregistered securities, the unreliable crypto custodians" were liabilities for bitcoin, he argued.

"For the industry to move to the next level," said Saylor, "we need to migrate to adult supervision. We need to rationalize away from the 100,000 crypto tokens ... that people are manipulating to bitcoin."

"When the industry takes its eyes away from the shiny little tokens that have distracted and demolished shareholder value, I think the industry moves to the next level and we 10X from here."