Bitcoin/Crypto Maximalist here. Bitcoin is dead, and MIchael Saylor killed it.

Well that's a bold statement, you say. Now let me explain with some background.

I am spooky old by crypto measures, over 45 and active in the crypto space for over 10 years. I was always bullish on the concept, and Bitcoin primarily. A great idea! Peer to peer cash, providing financial onramp for billions of unbanked individuals, crossing borders, optional anonymity through 'child currencies' (Zcash, Dash etc.) would provide the first world wide financial system for the unbanked masses.

Then 'big money' got involved, and specifically the poison of Michael Saylor (I'm not gonna go into why he's an idiot other than say; check his track record. He's basically just a Ponzi enjoyer)

Bitcoin was designed as a peer to peer cash system where the network (users) ran devices to secure the network. A flaw(less) idea with huge promise you say, what's wrong with Tether and Michael Saylor?

You are looking right at it, but you don't see it!

The ENTIRE financial reward structure of Bitcoin was that with accelerated adoption, would come accelerated transactions. Bitcoin was designed so that it wasn't just a good idea for the network fees to trend down, but transactions trend up to not only compensate for the diminishing fees but exponentially grow to create a system that rewarded miners in fees primarily, offsetting diminishing block reward.

Why is Michael Saylor at fault?

He really isn't, but he is the nail in the coffin. The concept of 'Digital Gold' is 100% antithetical to the use case of bitcoin simply because it literally BREAKS the entire network model.

When people hoard bitcoin like Smaug hoards gold; like Michael Saylor, they effectively guarantee the death of bitcoin.

Without exponentially increasing transactions to replace the diminishing block reward Bitcoin goes from being a good idea, to a financial Ponzi relying on the greater future fool, and is 100% doomed to die.

Why is it doomed to die?

Because instead of a reward structure that relies on a known increase in transaction fees, it become a speculative instrument of scarcity (Ponzi), where once it starts falling (it only takes one time) and the main holders are like MicroStrategy a house of cards that can only survive in an environment of perpetual price increase are the knife in the back of Bitcoin.

Why?

Because WHEN (not if) we have a real flash crash, financial crisis, or major network event that drops bitcoin past the threshold that holders can financially buffer, it's over.

Without sufficient transactional fees, miners and holders are 100% beholden to an infinite price increase to balance their investment and once it snaps there is NOTHING that can carry it again.

Ask yourself this: If bitcoin drops to $50k, and MicroStrategy is liquidated how does bitcoin not collapse when mining becomes a -40% ROI proposal due to failed reward structure and block times booms to 45 minutes. It has happened before at a scale where the 'community' could brace and miners could recoup; but what happens when the miners are market listed $10 billion companies and can't raise funds?

(You can also easily see that this is a scenario that Michael Saylor is scared of looking at his cash raises, and invention of secondary mechanisms like dividend shares and other scams to cover up the fact that his entire business is just vacuuming capital forever to fuel his own growth by investing back into bitcoin; rinse and repeat)

So do you really believe that Bitcoin will survive long term balanced as a non intrinsic value financial instrument that cannot by design have a SINGLE hiccup without entering a death spiral?

Yes. Bitcoin is dead. It just doesn't know it yet.

(I'm not going to provide any personally identifying details for obvious reasons)

Also. This doesn't even take into account the obvious possibility of third party network attacks, or quantum breaking the encryption of early hash wallets and dumping 2-3 million BTC that sit in low-security early wallets, which some people will tell you 'Can't Happen' but obviously that's not even close to true.

Disclosure: I am short bitcoin, without leverage, and will close my position when it hits $1000. I am also short MicroStrategy (Now 'Strategy', cause Michael Saylor is a scammer larping as a corporate leader) and will close my position when the stock hits $0