HODLing breaks Bitcoin part 4

In the previous installments of this series, we explored how the HODL culture has undermined Bitcoin’s privacy, squandered its potential as a global medium of exchange and encouraged the creation of toxic cancel culture.

This installment explores the next order of effects of institutional hodling by publicly traded companies, and how the decisions they make could have dire consequences not just in the blockchain economy, but actually negatively impact the entirety of the global economic system.

Hold onto your butts!

MicroStrategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) was once known as a stable force in the enterprise software world. Founded in 1989, the company built its reputation on data analytics and business intelligence software—tools designed to help companies make sense of vast data streams and gain strategic insights.

Michael Saylor in the early 1990’s

By integrating software solutions with customer-specific needs, MicroStrategy carved out a niche, serving as a pillar for businesses to enhance productivity and drive informed decisions. However, all of that changed in 2020 when CEO Michael Saylor initiated a radical shift in MicroStrategy’s strategy: making BTC acquisition a core component of the company’s treasury.

What began as a speculative venture quickly became the cornerstone of Saylor’s vision for MicroStrategy. Over the last three or four years, the company has allocated billions of dollars to purchase BTC, repurposing its budget to accumulate more of the digital asset. This shift required cutting costs in key areas to free up capital—trimming research and development budgets, slashing operational spending and reducing funds in areas that traditionally drive a software company’s core mission. While this approach has undoubtedly brought MicroStrategy media attention and significant gains as Bitcoin’s price has risen, the long-term strategy has pivoted from creating value through software innovation to relying on an external asset to drive up shareholder value.

In promoting this radical approach, Saylor has positioned himself as an evangelist for businesses to adopt similar strategies. His influence has been so profound that other major corporations, including Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), are rumored to be considering adopting BTC as part of their capital strategies.

While this approach may seem like a straightforward hedge for companies, there’s a dangerous underlying message that could reshape the very nature of productivity within corporate America. Saylor’s strategy promotes the idea that companies should cut back on productive budgets—whether R&D, customer service, or operational efficiencies—and redirect them into holding BTC, creating a passive but increasingly speculative value pool. But this approach masks a larger, hidden cost.

The opportunity cost of this strategy becomes apparent when imagining its full adoption across the corporate landscape. If other Fortune 500 companies adopt Saylor’s strategy, redirecting budget from productive assets to BTC, the implications are deeply troubling:

• Walmart (NASDAQ: WMT) could divert funds away from its logistics and supply chain improvements to buy BTC, resulting in slower deliveries and higher prices due to reduced efficiency in stocking and distribution.
• Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) could cut budgets from its logistics and planning sectors, leading to slower innovation and diminished customer satisfaction in exchange for speculative gains.
• Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) might release a new iPhone every three years instead of annually, reallocating R&D capital to BTC holdings rather than advancing technological progress.
• Ford (NASDAQ: F), Kroger (NASDAQ: KR), Walgreens (NASDAQ: WBA), Verizon (NASDAQ: VZ) and Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) could all reduce investments in production, supply, or customer services, choosing to channel these funds into BTC in the hopes of outperforming other companies by simply waiting for BTC’s price to climb, but at the cost of diminishing the quality of cars, groceries, drugs, telecommunications and more!

While BTC holders might find such a scenario thrilling, the impact on the wider economy would be detrimental. As companies divert productive assets into a speculative holding, the broader economy would experience a slowdown. Reduced productivity leads to fewer new products, services and technological advancements.

With capital trapped in unproductive assets, fewer jobs would be created, R&D would stagnate and economic growth would diminish. Rather than building wealth through innovation and creation, companies would become passive players, sitting on assets that do nothing to advance human productivity. This HODL-centric model, instead of driving societal value, results in a calculable net negative for the economy—a shift from an engine of growth to one of idle accumulation.

This post is essentially a threat to the global economy:

Observe the existential risk of HODL culture: it promotes a mindset where accumulating BTC for its own sake replaces real economic contributions. The FOMO (fear of missing out) it fuels draws people into a system that prioritizes price over productivity and asset growth over economic vitality. If large corporations adopt this passive approach, we risk creating an economy defined by scarcity of innovation, where BTC holders benefit from an inflated price at the expense of human progress. This path serves the interests of a few early adopters and whales but leaves the global economy languishing, incentivizing passivity over productivity and wealth consolidation over wealth creation.

Yes. Productivity can hit new lows in the western hemisphere. Great!

— Kurt Wuckert Jr | GorillaPool.com (@kurtwuckertjr) October 25, 2024

Bitcoin was never intended to be a digital gold standard, locked in idle accounts as value accumulates without interaction. Satoshi Nakamoto’s vision was to create a distributed, transactable currency that could power global commerce, reduce payment friction and secure data integrity. The BSV blockchain seeks to fulfill this promise by focusing on building a high-velocity economy that supports real businesses, driving global growth and prosperity. Instead of warehousing BTC, the BSV model fosters active economic participation, smart contract functionality and scalable data solutions that are efficient and secure.

While the BTC culture thrives on instability, FOMO and external crises, the BSV community is focused on building businesses and creating efficient networks that contribute positively to the global economy. BSV’s philosophy is one of enabling commerce, enhancing transparency and reducing barriers, not waiting for the world to collapse to capitalize on chaos. BTC’s dream, by contrast, risks creating a world where only the earliest holders prosper, controlling vast fortunes in an economy of slowed growth and limited opportunity.

HODL culture at scale isn’t an investment strategy—it’s a threat to economic dynamism. It fosters a technocratic aristocracy of the few, profiting off scarcity and withholding productive resources. In contrast, BSV envisions a world where Bitcoin empowers individuals and businesses to create value collaboratively. The true promise of Bitcoin lies not in passive speculation but in enabling humanity to become freer, wealthier and more connected. This vision offers hope not only for BTC’s investors but for a global economy that benefits us all.

Watch: It’s time for Bitcoin ecosystem to grow—here’s how