MicroStrategy founder and CEO Michael Saylor believes the crypto industry will consolidate around Bitcoin following Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuits against Binance and coin base.
In an interview with Bloomberg TVSaylor said that regulators โhave no love for crypto tokensโ and have taken a narrow perspective on what a crypto exchange should be.
โHis view is that cryptocurrency exchanges should trade and hold pure digital products like Bitcoin,โ he told Bloomberg. "So the whole industry is bound to be streamlined to become a Bitcoin-centric industry, with maybe a half dozen or a dozen other proof-of-work tokens."
Bitcoin's dominance has grown in recent months, now accounting for around 48% of the cryptocurrency market, up from 43% at the end of February, according to CoinMarketCap. Saylor believes that Bitcoin dominance could eventually reach 80%.
That could put exchanges in a tight spot. US-based Coinbase has been trying to diversify income streams away from an overreliance on trading fees, as regulatory pressure has dampened investor interest. If Bitcoin's dominance grows, trading alongside a smaller stable of peers, that could further depress topline numbers.
Coinbase reported just $374 million in trading fees in the first quarter, compared with $1.013 billion in the same quarter last year, a decline of nearly two-thirds. But in stark contrast to last year, when commercial fees made up 86% of first-quarter revenue, this year it was just under half.
Saylor ruled out any potential threat to exchanges should there be a consolidation around Bitcoin, insisting that they will still have a key role to play in the industry - and in the US. Coinbase in May launched an international exchange in Bermudaand other companies have said they are Looking for a foothold in Hong Kong as China may be warming up to crypto.
Many institutional investors, Saylor continued, are confused or put off by the wide variety of cryptocurrencies available, and are more likely to invest in the sector if it is more focused on Bitcoin. Despite the cryptocurrency's 4.5% plunge, to less than $26,000, since the SEC's lawsuits were announced last week, Saylor, a longtime Bitcoin supporter, stood his ground.
โEventually, I am confident that cryptocurrency exchanges will realize that Bitcoin is really the dominant asset in this space, and their business models are fine when Bitcoin rises by a factor of 10,โ Saylor said.
The MicroStrategy founder has spearheaded the company's strategy of amassing billions of dollars in Bitcoin, even as he stepped down as CEO last year. Starting in April, the company owned around 140,000 Bitcoin, purchased at an average price of $29,803, according to Saylor. Those holdings are worth $3.6 billion as of Wednesday, about $1 billion less than their value in April.
