Bitcoin's Institutional Leap: Michael Saylor Rephrases the Historic Achievement of 2025

Looking back at 2025, the Bitcoin industry experienced a year of true institutional advancement rather than short-term price fluctuations. Strategy founder and chairman Michael Saylor emphasized on the “What Bitcoin Did” podcast that it is time to reframe the essence of this progress. The criteria for evaluating Bitcoin’s success should shift from short-term market volatility to institutional adoption.

By the end of 2025, approximately 200 companies held Bitcoin on their balance sheets, a significant increase from 30 to 60 companies the previous year. This figure indicates that Bitcoin adoption is no longer merely a speculative choice but is recognized as a rational strategic decision by corporations.

Institutional Progress in 2025: Regulatory Approvals Across Multiple Sectors

The reality of institutional advancement was simultaneously progressing across various domains. First, the revival of the insurance market is notable. Companies that began purchasing Bitcoin in 2020 were at that time canceled from insurance policies by insurance companies. Over the following four years, these companies had no choice but to continue insuring with their own funds. However, by 2025, this situation was rephrased. Major insurance firms resumed offering insurance on Bitcoin-backed assets, officially recognizing it as part of the system.

At the same time, changes in accounting regulations cannot be overlooked. The introduction of fair value accounting allowed Bitcoin-holding companies to recognize unrealized capital gains as profits. The long-standing issue of unrealized capital gains tax was also resolved through proactive government guidance. With Bitcoin officially recognized by the government as “a major and the largest digital commodity in the world,” the regulatory environment fundamentally changed.

Integration into Banking Systems and Market Infrastructure Maturity

Institutional progress extended into banking systems as well. At the start of the year, a Bitcoin-backed loan of around $1 billion could only secure about 5 cents in lending, but by year-end, this had changed dramatically. Most major US banks began offering loans collateralized by IBIT (Bitcoin ETF), and about a quarter of banks planned to start offering direct Bitcoin collateralized loans. JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley are actively discussing Bitcoin trading and processing.

The Treasury Department also issued positive guidance on incorporating cryptocurrencies into bank balance sheets, and the chairmen of the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) and SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) expressed support for Bitcoin. Market infrastructure also matured significantly, with the CME (Chicago Mercantile Exchange) advancing the commercialization of Bitcoin derivatives, and a non-taxable physical issuance and redemption mechanism was introduced, allowing the exchange of $1 million worth of Bitcoin for an equivalent amount of IBIT (or vice versa).

Reframing Short-Term Volatility into a Long-Term Perspective: A Shift in Market Evaluation Criteria

Saylor emphasizes the need to reframe the evaluation criteria used by the industry. Judging Bitcoin’s success based on 90-day or 180-day price fluctuations is fundamentally meaningless. “Looking at the history of all ideological movements over the past 10,000 years, people who undertake something typically spend a decade doing so,” he points out.

If the goal is the commercialization of Bitcoin, then its evaluation should be on a decade-long timescale. Rather than focusing on the recent fluctuations of the current Bitcoin price ($89.44K), it is crucial to note that the four-year moving average continues an extremely bullish trend. 2025, aside from the downturn over the past 95 days, was a year of the highest institutional advancement.

Bitcoin = Digital Capital: Redefining the Universal Value Concept

Saylor believes it is necessary to reframe the evaluation of Bitcoin-holding companies. When treasury companies adopt a strategy of “selling stocks to buy Bitcoin,” it is not merely speculation but a rational action aimed at increasing productivity.

For example, should a company that incurs an annual loss of $10 million be criticized if holding $1 billion worth of Bitcoin generates $30 million in capital gains? Saylor argues that the criticism should focus not on “buying Bitcoin” but on the “ongoing losses themselves.”

Regarding concerns that the increasing number of Bitcoin-holding companies might lead to market saturation, Saylor calls for a reframing. There are approximately 400 million companies worldwide. Why can’t they buy Bitcoin? “Bitcoin is a universal capital in the digital age, and just as power infrastructure drives all machinery, Bitcoin is the fundamental entity powering all digital assets,” he redefines.

Strategy’s Vision: Stepping into the Digital Credit Market

The true vision of Strategy, led by Saylor, is not banking but pioneering the digital credit market. The company defines Bitcoin as “digital capital” and aims to develop digital credit (STRC: Strake Deferred Digital Credit) products collateralized by Bitcoin.

The potential size of this market is enormous. If they capture 10% of the US Treasury bond market, it would amount to a $10 trillion market. Compared to senior credit and corporate credit markets, there are still largely untapped areas such as Bitcoin-backed derivatives, exchanges, and even insurance businesses.

By establishing dollar reserves, the strategy also involves enhancing corporate creditworthiness and gaining trust from credit investors, which is part of the institutional progress. Providing a more stable collateral base for credit investors who consider Bitcoin highly volatile aims to expand the market size.

The value a company possesses depends not only on “what it is doing now” but also on “what it can do in the future.” What Strategy is not currently doing is not because it cannot do it. This perspective is the fundamental reframing of corporate evaluation criteria in the Bitcoin era.

The institutional progress throughout 2025 signifies not just a price increase but the recognition of Bitcoin and digital credit as foundational elements of the financial system. How far this progress advances depends on how long the industry can maintain a long-term perspective and reframe its evaluation criteria.