Michael Saylor: Bitcoin Doesn’t Need Staking to Generate Returns

Michael Saylor, Chairman of Strategy, believes that the king of cryptocurrencies does not need mechanisms like staking, inflation, or changes to the base protocol to create profits for investors.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), he outlined a 5-layer roadmap for digital assets, in which Bitcoin serves as the base layer and "pure digital capital." According to Saylor, Bitcoin and its intrinsic value stem from its scarcity and the neutrality of its network, and returns should be generated through financial products built on higher layers.

In Saylor’s proposed model, Bitcoin acts as the primary store of value and collateral at the lowest level, while products such as digital credit, digital money, digital yield, and digital equity are built on top of it. This structure allows investors to earn returns without altering the fundamental rules of the Bitcoin network. He emphasized that the difference between Bitcoin and networks like Ethereum is that returns in Bitcoin come from economic activity and capital market instruments, not from manipulating supply or introducing inflation into the protocol.

Saylor pointed to Strategy’s securities as a successful example of linking credit with Bitcoin. In this model, preferred shares and debt instruments sit above common equity and offer investors various types of risk and return. He noted that these instruments carry different risks compared to direct Bitcoin ownership, and that treasury and liquidity management play a key role in the success of this model.

Strategy currently holds 846,842 Bitcoin, making it the largest corporate holder of the cryptocurrency in the world. The company recently purchased an additional 1,587 Bitcoin, worth approximately $100 million. Saylor believes that their capital management model — a combination of debt, equity, and Bitcoin reserves — provides an optimal structure for modern capital markets that can maintain stability across different market cycles.