Strategy’s Michael Saylor says ‘no doubt in my mind’ bitcoin will be bigger than gold within a decade

Michael Saylor, founder and executive chairman of Strategy (MSTR), the world’s largest public holder of bitcoin, said in an interview during Yahoo Finance’s Invest event, “There’s no doubt in my mind, bitcoin will be a larger asset class than gold by the year 2035.”

Bitcoin currently has a market cap of approximately $2.04 trillion, versus gold’s $29.2 trillion. For bitcoin to surpass gold, its price would need to climb above $1.4 million per coin.

The cryptocurrency’s pseudonymous creator designed the digital asset with a fixed supply of 21 million units, or coins that are mined through its underlying validation process known as proof of work. Based on that production schedule, by 2035, 99% of all the bitcoin will have been created, Saylor noted.

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Saylor’s bullish outlook comes after prices for bitcoin, smaller digital assets, and crypto-linked stocks such as Strategy have seen a fierce correction since mid-October, with billions of dollars in leveraged positions within the crypto derivatives market unwinding in recent weeks, according to data tracked by aggregator CoinGlass.

Still, bitcoin has risen more than 8% since the beginning of the year, although it has underperformed on the S&P 500 (^GSPC) and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC). Strategy’s stock is down 22% for that period.

Gold (GC=F) has far outperformed in the same period, with a 60% increase.

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When asked about the swoon in Strategy’s stock over the past month and whether bitcoin believers are losing steam, Saylor pushed back, saying, “I don’t think they’re losing faith.”

Strategy, once a business intelligence software company known as MicroStrategy, has transformed under Saylor into an investment vehicle that churns out a hypervolatile bitcoin equity offering and a range of bond instruments.

Saylor pioneered this playbook years ago by using the company’s free cash flow and issuing a mix of debt and equity to accumulate as much bitcoin as possible.

The Tyson’s Corner, Va.-based company purchased an additional 487 bitcoin over the past week, bringing its total bitcoin holdings to 641,692 BTC, or 3% of bitcoin’s total supply, according to Strategy’s latest regulatory disclosure.

“The fundamentals of the industry are so much better today than they were 12 months ago,” Saylor said. “The market sentiment is negative, but that’s an opportunity for the equity investor that makes their own decisions.”