LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Strategy (MSTR) Chair Michael Saylor waxed poetic about bitcoin in a keynote speech at Bitcoin 2025 in Las Vegas on Thursday, laying out his guiding principles — his so-called “21 ways to wealth” — for a jam-packed audience of fans and conference-goers.
“Satoshi started a fire in cyberspace, and while the fearful run from it and fools dance around it, the faithful feed the flame, dreaming of a better world, and bathe in the warm glow of cyberlight,” Saylor said. “What does that mean? It means that a lot of people that look at Bitcoin are going to be afraid of it. They’ll never touch it. They’ll never benefit from it. They’ll be left behind. Then others will just juggle it. They will juggle the fire. They will make fireworks with the fire. They will create trinkets with the fire. They will create magic tricks with the fire. But those that truly understand it will feed the fire. How do you feed the fire? You feed the fire by buying Bitcoin. “
Saylor — who has taken on a near-mythic status in the bitcoin community for his leadership of Strategy, a publicly-traded technology company-turned-bitcoin treasury company, which holds approximately 3% of the total bitcoin supply — said that people should trade their other, inferior assets for bitcoin.
“Take your fiat currency, trade it for bitcoin. Take your long term capital, trade it for bitcoin. Sell your bonds, trade [them] for Bitcoin. Sell your inferior equity, sell your inferior real estate property, buy bitcoin,” Saylor said. “Feed the fire, and what will come of that? An extraordinary explosion in the network and [in] the power of the network, and you will have bought your ticket to prosperity.”
Thus was Saylor’s third way to wealth — courage — which he said meant that wealth “favors those who embrace intelligent monetary risk.”
Bitcoin, like other assets, rises in price if more people buy it, though Saylor did not mention this effect during his speech.
In addition to courage, Saylor advised the audience to have conviction in bitcoin’s potential, to stay committed to one cause, to cooperate with their families and children, to embrace artificial intelligence, to consider civility when engaging with the “natural power structures of the world,” and to remember to be generous.
“When you are successful — and you will be successful — get up every morning and spread happiness, share security, and deliver hope to those less fortunate than you,” Saylor said. “You found the path first, you found the way first. You should spread good karma.”