Key Takeaways
- Saifedean Ammous says one entity owning millions of Bitcoin wouldn't endanger the protocol.
- Strategy and BlackRock hold a combined 5.3% of Bitcoin's total supply.
- If these firms acted against investors' interests, Ammous says investors would pull out.
Bitcoin Standard author Saifedean Ammous says the protocol remains secure even if Michael Saylor’s firm Strategy were to accumulate up to 10 million Bitcoin—nearly half the total supply.
In an April 25 interview with entrepreneur Anthony Pompliano, Ammous dismissed concerns about centralization or manipulation.
He said:
If Michael Saylor ends up with 10 million Bitcoin, what is he going to do? He’s likely just going to leverage them to buy more Bitcoin.
Protocol security & supply concerns
Ammous argued that such a scenario wouldn’t lead to protocol changes, as altering the supply would harm the value of any existing holdings.
He noted:
I don’t see how it would threaten the protocol in the serious sense.
Current Bitcoin holdings breakdown
Currently, Strategy owns 538,200 Bitcoin—around $50.18 billion—while BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin ETF holds approximately 585,000 BTC, valued at $54.48 billion.
Together, they control about 5.3% of Bitcoin’s supply.
Ownership structure & investor protection
Ammous emphasized that neither company truly owns the Bitcoin.
He said:
It’s not like Michael Saylor or Larry Fink owns all those Bitcoins. They have shareholders who own all those Bitcoins, or ETF holders that own those Bitcoins.
If either entity began mismanaging those assets, Ammous said investors would likely withdraw.
He explained:
People would sell and find other ways to gain exposure to Bitcoin.
New competition in Bitcoin treasury space
Twenty One Capital, a Bitcoin treasury firm backed by Tether, SoftBank, and Cantor Fitzgerald, recently launched with ambitions to surpass Strategy as the go-to vehicle for capital-efficient Bitcoin exposure.
