Saylor sets out five digital asset rights in new essay
Strategy's Michael Saylor says digital assets need a bill of rights rather than restrictions, arguing better money and capital markets are needed to realise AI's potential.
Key points
- Saylor posted the essay on X on Saturday, setting out five fundamental digital asset freedoms.
- The rights cover creating, issuing, holding, transferring and using digital assets.
- He said the rights should apply to both people and companies.
- Saylor wrote that the aim should be to enable 10 million new companies to raise capital.
- Cointelegraph reported Strategy bought 950 Bitcoin for $75.7 million, taking holdings to 846,000 BTC.
Michael Saylor, co-founder and executive chairman of Strategy, has called for a bill of digital rights covering digital assets, arguing that restrictions hold back their economic potential. In an essay posted on X on Saturday, he wrote that an age of digital assets and intelligence needs such a framework rather than limits, according to CoinTelegraph.
Saylor, whose company is the world's largest corporate Bitcoin holder, set out five fundamental rights or freedoms. These are the freedom to create new digital assets, the freedom to issue them to the market to finance business and productivity, and the right to hold them or choose a custodian. The list also includes the right to transfer assets among people, companies, wallets and service providers, and the right to use them by spending, investing, earning income and borrowing against them.
He wrote that these rights should apply to both people and companies. An asset's value depends on what its owner can do with it, he said, adding that restricting its usefulness restricts its economic potential.
Five digital asset freedoms
Saylor argued that digital intelligence will automate jobs and make many products obsolete. As a result, future prosperity will depend on the ability to create new businesses and opportunities more quickly, he wrote. He added that the ambition should be to enable 10 million new companies to raise capital.
The essay follows CoinTelegraph's report on Monday that Strategy had resumed buying Bitcoin after a two-week pause. The company acquired 950 Bitcoin for $75.7 million at an average price of $79,670 per coin.
That purchase brought Strategy's holdings to 846,000 BTC, acquired for about $63.8 billion at an average cost of $75,416 per coin. Bitcoin was trading at about $84,523 at the time of publication, CoinTelegraph reported.
AI and future prosperity
Saylor's proposal adds to a long-running debate over how digital assets should be treated by regulators and governments. His framing of five rights is aimed at shaping that discussion as AI tools spread through the economy and change how businesses raise money and operate.