Michael Saylor says he’s paying bitcoin taxes, unlike ‘crypto-anarchists’

MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor recently defended his belief that large financial institutions will end up owning a large and ever-growing portion of bitcoin’s supply. In an interview that he proudly posted to X and YouTube, Saylor claimed that the Bitcoin network will improve as companies and governments displace “crypto-anarchists.”

When asked about the risk of government seizure as third-party custodians hold more bitcoin on behalf of their customers, Saylor responded, “I think that when the bitcoin is held by a bunch of crypto-anarchists who aren’t regulated entities — who don’t acknowledge government or don’t acknowledge taxes or don’t acknowledge reporting requirements — that increases the risk of seizure” (emphasis in original).

Saylor insinuated that institutions like BlackRock or MicroStrategy, unlike self-sovereign Bitcoiners, will reliably file and pay their taxes.

The irony of that claim was immediately obvious to viewers, of course, given that Saylor himself has paid $40 million to settle claims that he evaded tax payments plus $8.5 million to settle claims of accounting fraud.

Saylor thinks 99.9% of the money doesn’t worry about government seizure

At another point in the interview, Saylor continued to chuckle at Bitcoiners who insist on self-custody. “You have an OG crypto community that’s very hardcore about it, but if you look at where all the money is — 99.9% of the money — is actually in the traditional economy.”

Saylor repeated his disrespect for one of the oldest communities in cryptography. He claimed that the risk of seizure is mostly a concern for “paranoid crypto-anarchists.” 

He also hand-waved away the risk of an actual government seizure of bitcoin, calling it a “trope” that repeats in a pointless loop. He noted that the most recent example from history, the 1933 US gold seizure enacted by Executive Order 6102, did not result in any forceful seizures of gold.

Read more: Did Michael Saylor pay Bitcoin developers to stop working?

‘Paranoid crypto-anarchists’

Comments rained in from the Bitcoin community and many accounts switched their username to “paranoid crypto-anarchist.” “Terrible look for Saylor to become a shill for the government,” wrote one observer. “My trust in Saylor has cratered with the latest interview,” claimed another, while someone else asserted, “Saylor is an enemy of bitcoin.”

Others predicted the demise of Saylor in some future Bitcoin network split. “When the Blackrock forkwar happens, he has a huge incentive to be on the regulatory compliant side of the chain split,” wrote Michael Ruiz.

The co-founder of Simply Bitcoin took the opportunity for self-reflection, “Saylor didn’t shill himself as some bitcoin prophet, you did. The enablers are the real culprits.”

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