Pakistan Embraces Bitcoin With Assist From Strategy’s Michael Saylor

Pakistan is reportedly working on making digital assets a major part of its economy.

To that end, the country recently hosted a meeting with Michael Saylor, executive chairman of business intelligence (BI) company Strategy, holder of the world’s largest corporate bitcoin reserve, Coindesk reported Monday (June 16).

According to the report, officials at the meeting stressed Pakistan’s goal of becoming a digital asset leader in the global south, with a commitment to regulation, inclusion and innovation.

For his part, Coindesk added, Saylor praised Pakistan’s proactive approach, calling bitcoin the “strongest asset for long-term national resilience.” He added that countries such as Pakistan have a chance to make strikes in the financial landscape by embracing digital assets early.

The report notes that Strategy’s bitcoin holdings now total approximately 582,000 BTC, valued at more than $62 billion. This has lifted the company’s market cap from $1.2 billion in 2020 to $105 billion, Coindesk added.

The $62 billion bitcoin holdings figure is up from $45 billion in February, when Strategy announced it was changing its name from MicroStrategy. As PYMNTS noted at the time, Saylor has advocated for years the idea that bitcoin represents the best long-term store of value for corporate treasuries, comparing it to prime real estate.

“Unlike cash, which can depreciate due to inflation, or gold, which has high storage and security costs, bitcoin offers a scarce, borderless and easily transferable reserve asset,” that report said. “Strategy’s decision to move beyond BI software and fully embrace a bitcoin-centric business model underscores the growing institutionalization of digital assets.”

That trend has continued throughout the year. But as PYMNTS wrote in May, traditional crypto assets like bitcoin and ethereum may have dominated headlines, but it is stablecoins — digital assets pegged to fiat currencies — that are gaining traction in the payments space.

Compared to more volatile cryptocurrencies, stablecoins provide price stability, making them ideal for practical, everyday use. And against this backdrop, payments stakeholders are recalibrating, that report noted.

There was a time when these players would have been worried about regulatory pushback or reputational risk. While those concerns haven’t vanished, there’s a new urgency to keep ahead of marketplace demands by “building the future themselves,” PYMNTS added.

“Moving money isn’t the same as creating a complete use case. You need to build trust and a great user experience, Raj Dhamodharan, executive vice president, blockchain and digital assets at Mastercard, told PYMNTS.