Michael Saylor, one of the biggest Bitcoin advocates, has stepped down from his CEO position at MicroStrategy. The announcement came on Tuesday, August 2, when the company reported a loss of nearly $1 billion in the second quarter. Here are the details…
MicroStrategy reports $1 billion in losses
MicroStrategy, one of the largest institutional investors in Bitcoin, reported losses of over $ 1 billion in its latest report. $917.8 million of that was due to the drop in Bitcoin price. As of June 30, MicroStrategy reported that they were holding 129,699 Bitcoins worth $1.98 billion. As we reported as Kriptokoin.com, the company has been accumulating Bitcoin since the summer of 2020. However, Saylor will now serve as MicroStrategy’s chairman of the board. He said that now his specific focus will be on accumulating cryptocurrencies. In a statement on Tuesday, Saylor said:
As Chairman of the Board, I will be able to focus more on our Bitcoin acquisition strategy and related Bitcoin advocacy initiatives. Phong will be empowered as CEO to manage overall corporate operations.
MicroStrategy’s stock fell
After the Bitcoin correction this year, MicroStrategy (MSTR) stock price came under severe pressure. Crypto advocates support Saylor’s Bitcoin bet. However, some Wall Street analysts don’t see this as a strong move for a publicly traded company. According to the latest Bloomberg report, MicroStrategy-related short positions (short selling) have been piling up recently. MSTR stock saw a partial rebound with BTC price in July last month. However, some skeptics believe it could flare up quickly. The Bloomberg report includes the following statements:
A record 51 percent of MicroStrategy’s current stock is currently short, according to financial analytics firm S3 Partners. It has a face value of $1.35 billion. S3 says its all-time high of 4.73 million stocks has risen by 1.2 million in the last 30 days alone.
Microstrategy’s criticism of altcoins other than Bitcoin draws backlash
Meanwhile, Saylor came to the fore with his various statements about altcoins. In fact, lawyer and XRP supporter John Deaton said Michael Saylor’s recent comments on altcoins were “nonsense”. Saylor recently said in an interview with Not Investment Advice that “all legitimate talent is working on top of the Bitcoin ecosystem.”
Saylor also claims that other projects competing with Bitcoin (BTC) in the crypto market are on their way to becoming unregistered securities because they are “centralized”. Saylor says, “If you’re honest, ethical, and competent, you’re building on Lightning. You are developing an application,” he said. Deaton said Saylor’s comments were “offensive”. Deaton pointed out that Saylor’s “security” comments on Ethereum (ETH), Cardano (ADA) and XRP are flawed.
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