In a recent interview, Strategy’s executive chairman Michael Saylor shared how and why he decided to start accumulating Bitcoin, and what he has discovered about them. He also shares his take on whether quantum computers will be able to hack Bitcoin passwords. The interview was hosted by Jordan Bernt Peterson, a Canadian psychologist, book author and media commentator.
I discuss thermodynamics, theology, and history with @JordanBPeterson — and answer a bunch of personal questions along the way. pic.twitter.com/JHfgixhMWy
— Michael Saylor (@saylor) June 10, 2025
Saylor reveals story behind choosing Bitcoin in 2020 over other assets
Reflecting back to 2020, Saylor told Peterson that when the pandemic broke out, he started thinking of where to park his money — about half a billion dollars. Saylor began looking for the ultimate form of money to own among that economic crisis. He did not want to buy into U.S. Treasuries to own national U.S. debt since T-bills were worthless back then.
Saylor looked at real estate and stocks, which soared at that moment, but he did not like the reasons that stood behind those price jumps (the interest rate hike). He also considered art and gold but then decided against those as well. He was unable to find “$500,000 million worth of Picasso's Monets attractively priced,” and as for gold, his attorney talked him out of it since it sat at about $800 per ounce for twenty years and did not move higher, calling gold “dead money.”
The Strategy executive chairman wanted a “liquid and fungible asset” that would store his “economic energy” for an indefinite period of time. Eventually, he opted for Bitcoin, though a few years before that, Saylor thought of it as a “scam coin that is probably gonna collapse.” But in 2020 he began self-educating on Bitcoin on YouTube, listening to podcasts, then he read the famous “The Bitcoin Standard” book.
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Quantum computation can hardly harm Bitcoin, Saylor insists
Saylor referred to Bitcoin as “the most anti-fragile and indestructible thing in the world.” He also calls Bitcoin “an ideology that is manifested as a protocol,” saying that even if, in the future, quantum computation can break Bitcoin passwords, it will not be able to hack the basics of Bitcoin, which is fundamental math.
He compared that to hackers hacking one’s email account, saying that they are unable to destroy the English language anyway, which those emails are written in. In this case, one has to upgrade the computer program, Saylor believes.