Michael Saylor, whose company MicroStrategy holds 846,000 BTC, outlined a regulatory vision for digital assets in a recent essay titled "Prescriptions for Prosperity in the Digital Economy." Rather than advocating for restrictive frameworks, Saylor proposes a "bill of digital rights" to establish clearer legal pathways for individuals and corporations working with digital assets.
Saylor's proposal centers on five core rights: creating, issuing, custodying, transferring, and using digital assets. He argues that restrictions on how assets can be used directly limit their economic potential, and that the financial system must evolve to accommodate advancing technology.
Regulatory Reforms
Saylor calls on the SEC, CFTC, Treasury, and White House to remove barriers and establish clearer pathways for digital-asset products. He specifically advocates for banks to custody Bitcoin and provide loans against it under workable regulations, and for insurers to incorporate digital assets into their operations.
He also proposes a meaningful "de minimis" exemption for ordinary digital-asset payments with an inflation-adjusted threshold, arguing that current rules requiring transaction-by-transaction capital gains tracking create unnecessary friction for everyday use.
Industry Potential
Saylor believes digital assets can grow into a $100 trillion industry, contingent on millions of people and companies experimenting with new approaches to capital creation and organization. He contends that regulation should provide certainty without limiting innovation, criticizing existing proposals for emphasizing restrictions over enablement.
