Michael Saylor, executive chairman of MicroStrategy, is set to take a key seat at Friday’s White House Crypto Summit.
Speaking ahead of the event, Saylor noted that Bitcoin should be the central pillar of the initiative, arguing that it’s the only universally agreed-upon digital asset with no issuer.
“The important thing to keep in mind is Bitcoin is the one universally agreed upon foundational asset in the entire crypto economy because it's the asset without an issuer,” Saylor told Fox News in an interview. “It's neutral. 99% of the energy and the capital has flown into that one.”
Hosted by President Donald Trump and chaired by White House crypto czar David Sacks, the upcoming White House Crypto Summit is set to bring together some of the most influential figures in the industry.
Among the confirmed attendees are Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor, Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev, Kraken CEO Arjun Sethi, Chainlink Labs co-founder Sergey Nazarov, World Liberty Financial co-founder Zach Witkoff, Multicoin Capital Managing Partner Kyle Samani, BTC Inc. CEO David Bailey, and Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang.
The White House’s plan for a U.S. crypto reserve has raised questions about how it would be financed. Saylor noted that while the process is still unfolding, the structure is already being shaped by an executive order that laid out a six-month roadmap.
“I think that there's a six-month process that's been laid out by the executive order, and I think the president was fairly deliberate in that there are 12 members on the presidential working committee,” he explained. “There'll be involvement from the industry, there'll be involvement from the Senate and from the House.”
Saylor referenced the Alumnus Bill, a legislative proposal that outlines a gradual accumulation of Bitcoin over four years, aiming to acquire one million BTC for the reserve.
A Bitcoin-only reserve?
While Trump initially announced t hat assets like XRP, Solana, and Cardano would be included in the reserve, backlash from industry leaders — who argued that only Bitcoin should be in the stockpile — quickly forced a clarification. Trump later confirmed that Bitcoin and Ethereum would be the “heart of the reserve.”
Saylor, however, maintains that Bitcoin should remain the primary focus.
“I think the emerging consensus in the industry is that Bitcoin should be the element in a strategic reserve over the long term for the country,” he said. “If you decide to buy cyberspace, buy it deliberately, progressively, transparently.”
When pressed on whether altcoins like Solana and Cardano should be included in the reserve, he didn’t explicitly reject the idea but implied they belonged in a different category.
“I think that digital XRP is attached to a company, Ripple. Those are tokens,” Saylor explained. “We should have a regulatory framework to allow them to be issued.” However, he was firm that a reserve should be backed by a commodity like Bitcoin, saying, “It's wise to capitalize a country or a company on a commodity, an asset without an issuer.”
Why should the U.S. hold Bitcoin?
Skeptics have questioned why the U.S. would need a strategic Bitcoin reserve, drawing comparisons to traditional reserves like oil, medical equipment, or military stockpiles that serve a tangible purpose in times of crisis.
“Who's going to die without Bitcoin?” the Fox News host asked Saylor.
Saylor responded by positioning Bitcoin as the property of the digital age—something the U.S. must own if it wants to maintain its dominance in the financial world.
“If you think of Bitcoin as property in cyberspace, and you say, where is all the money in the world headed? Well, it's headed from foreign countries, China, Russia—it wants to go to cyberspace,” he said. “If you get there first, before the AIs, before the foreigners, before the Europeans, the Africans, the South Americans, the Russians, and the Chinese, the U.S. can own it and benefit from it.”
When asked what he would tell Trump directly at the summit, Saylor was clear: the administration must define a clear regulatory framework before making any large purchases.
“I would say the number one thing is lay down clarity amongst digital assets,” he said. “And then, once you've laid out that framework, if you decide to buy cyberspace, buy it deliberately, progressively, transparently.”