Bitcoin as a Treasury Reserve: El Salvador and MicroStrategy Lead the Way

• Bitcoin has served as an ideal treasury asset for Nayib Bukele and Michael Saylor.
• El Salvador holds 5,750 BTC, while MicroStrategy holds 226,331 Bitcoins.
• James Murphy thinks Bitcoin’s potential to increase in value makes it an ideal reserve asset.

James Murphy, the crypto lawyer known as MetaLawMan on X, argues that Bitcoin has served as an ideal treasury asset for Nayib Bukele, El Salvador’s President, and Michael Saylor of MicroStrategy. Murphy made this statement to reinforce his earlier post on the potential role of Bitcoin in the ongoing U.S. presidential campaign.

Last month, Murphy posited that the most logical step for a pro-Bitcoin presidential candidate would be to declare that the U.S. Treasury would purchase Bitcoin to hold as permanent reserves. That statement followed comments made by Donald Trump during one of his campaign rallies where he said:

 “All Bitcoin mining should be in the U.S.” 

Under Bukele’s leadership, El Salvador became a fully pro-Bitcoin nation, declaring the flagship crypto a legal tender, establishing Bitcoin mining operations, and undertaking other pro-Bitcoin activities, such as embarking on the construction of a “Bitcoin City.”

Meanwhile, as of last May, reports indicated that El Salvador had mined 474 BTC since 2021, bringing the nation’s Bitcoin holdings to 5,750 BTC. El Salvador transferred the bulk of its Bitcoin holdings to cold storage earlier this year, with Bukele describing it as their first Bitcoin piggy bank and saying it was “honest work.”

According to reports, MicroStrategy owns 226,331 bitcoins, ranking it as the highest-ranked institutional Bitcoin holder in terms of assets held. The company’s Q1 2024 report showed it purchased the Bitcoins for $7.54 billion, averaging $35,180 per Bitcoin. Therefore, the value of the investment has nearly doubled at the current price.

Bitcoin’s potential for price appreciation is one reason Murphy believes it would serve as an ideal treasury reserve asset. He compared it to the gold held at the U.S. bullion depository, often called Fort Knox.