MicroStrategy’s now-bullish CEO explains why he bashed Bitcoin back in 2013

Published at: Sept. 16, 2020

Back in 2013, Michael Saylor, CEO of business intelligence giant MicroStrategy, posted a tweet against Bitcoin (BTC), forecasting a grim future for the asset. Fast-forward to 2020, during which Saylor's company now holds a major bullish position in BTC.

#Bitcoin days are numbered. It seems like just a matter of time before it suffers the same fate as online gambling.

— Michael Saylor (@michael_saylor) December 19, 2013

"I literally forgot I ever said that," Saylor told Morgan Creek Digital co-founder Anthony Pompliano during a podcast interview posted on Wednesday. 

Recent weeks have seen MicroStrategy turn bullish on Bitcoin, buying 21,454 BTC, worth $250 million at the time of purchase. Subsequent developments saw the company evaluating even more capital allocation to the asset. 

Following the company's move into BTC, Twitter posts began surfacing showing a 2013 tweet from Saylor in which he compared Bitcoin to the allegedly dying online gambling fad. It may be worth noting that online gambling has not died either in the time since the tweet.

Once Saylor tipped MicroStrategy's hand regarding the BTC acquisition this year, the crypto industry responded to the evolution of his mindset with what Saylor called "kind ribbing." 

"I'm really ashamed to say — I didn't know I tweeted it until the day that I tweeted that I bought $250 million worth of Bitcoin," Saylor said of his 2013 anti-Bitcoin tweet.

"Then I discovered the hive mind crypto-Twitter consciousness where, all of a sudden, they all went through all my tweets, they found it, they reminded me of it, they compared it."

Saylor remembers he loved hopping on Twitter around the 2013 time frame, saying he would often tweet out his opinions on whatever was relevant at the time. In the years following, he decided to tweet more strategically, mostly about aspects pertaining to MicroStrategy, although the 2013 Bitcoin doom-and-gloom tweet remains as an example of his early years on Twitter. 

Fresh news shows MicroStrategy upping its Bitcoin holdings even further, now holding 38,250 BTC. The company's stock (MSTR) posted a 9% rally in tandem with the recent Bitcoin purchase. 

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