Microstrategy founder Michael Saylor says he will return his Bitcoin trove ‘to the civilization’ after he’s gone

MicroStrategy’s executive chairman, Michael Saylor, claims that he plans to return his Bitcoin wealth to “civilization” after he dies.

In an interview with Madison Reidy on Markets with Madison on October 21, Microstrategy founder and chairman Michael Saylor explains what he wants to do with his Bitcoin (BTC) fortune after he dies.

“I am a single man with no children; When I’m gone, I’m gone. Just like Satoshi left a million Bitcoins to the universal, I leave everything I have to civilization,” Saylor told Madison Reidy.

This means Saylor plans to give up his Bitcoin fortune. There was a total of 19.6 million BTC in circulation in January 2024, leaving only 1.4 million BTC to be mined. With a limit of 21 million tokens, Bitcoin is predicted to reach its maximum in 2140, at which point miners will no longer be given new tokens as rewards. If Saylor returns his BTC to the markets, it will revive the global supply of Bitcoin.

Bitcoin founder Nakamoto Satoshi is said to own 1.1 million BTC tokens, according to Bankless Times. Satoshi’s Bitcoin wallet has remained largely untouched since his disappearance in 2011. However, in January 2024, one of Satoshi’s wallets received $1.2 million worth of Bitcoin from an unidentified source.

Saylor likens Bitcoin to the “recipe of civilization” that stands as a solid, granite-like foundation on which people build. He references the Bible verse that says God encourages people to build a house on a foundation as solid as a rock rather than on sinking sand.

“Build on a solid granite foundation. So what is Manhattan? They are 100-storey steel structures powered by electricity on the chest. It is the closest to granite you can find. Saylor stated that this is the definition of civilization and this is what Bitcoin is.

As of August 2024, Saylor announced that he owned more than $1 billion worth of Bitcoin. At the time of the announcement, Bitcoin was trading at $56,000, so one billion dollars worth of Bitcoin would be equivalent to approximately 17,857 BTC.

Although Bitcoin has reached highs, 17,857 BTC could equal more than $1.1 billion.

Saylor’s technology company, Microstrategy, has amassed the largest Bitcoin reserve ever held by a company, with 252,220 BTC since its last purchase of 7,420 BTC on September 20. In March 2024, Microstrategy’s holdings captured 1% of the entire Bitcoin market, indicating an unrealized profit margin of approximately $6 billion.