MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor says bitcoin is ‘cyber Manhattan’

Michael Saylor compared bitcoin to New York City and its economy on Monday as the cryptocurrency rose to fresh records, calling it “cyber Manhattan.”

“We’ll just keep buying the top forever, every day is a good day to buy bitcoin,” the founder and chairman of MicroStrategy said on CNBC’s “Money Movers.” “I would have bought Manhattan 100 years ago, 200 years ago, every year for the past 300 years. You pay a little bit more than the person that bought Manhattan before you, but it’s always a good investment to invest in the economic capital of the free world.”

Saylor’s comments come ahead of MicroStrategy’s inclusion in the Nasdaq-100 on Dec. 23. That would also put the bitcoin proxy in the popular Invesco QQQ Trust ETF, which tracks the Nasdaq-100.

On Monday, shares of MicroStrategy jumped more than 5%. Bitcoin rose to an all-time high of $107,162.64, according to Coin Metrics.

MicroStrategy has been adding bitcoin to its balance sheet since 2020 and now issues convertible notes to leverage its purchases. It began cranking up its purchases after the U.S. presidential election. On Monday, Saylor announced the company has purchased another 15,350 BTC, bringing its total bitcoin holdings to 439,000 worth about $46 billion.

Saylor responded to naysayers who call MicroStrategy’s bitcoin acquisition strategy a Ponzi scheme.

“Just like developers in Manhattan, every time real estate goes up in value, they issue more debt to develop more real estate,” he said. “That’s why your buildings are so tall in New York City, it’s been going on for 350 years. I would call it an economy.”