🟪 Say it ain’t so

Maybe the Microsoft “loss” is a good thing

Author

Michael McSweeney
December 15, 2024

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The bitcoin faithful were defeated in an effort to get Microsoft to inch closer to holding bitcoin on its balance sheet.

To be honest, I never really understood the push here. Microsoft itself said that it had taken a look at cryptocurrencies as an asset and decided — for now — to sit on the sidelines. The big rejection by shareholders this week to essentially repeat that process felt less like a monumental defeat and more a bid to avoid duplicative work.

The actual tally: a paltry 0.55% voted in favor of the proposal, according to public records. 

Still, Michael Saylor’s (pre-recorded) pitch was played for Microsoft shareholders, so one can’t deny that bitcoin got a hearing before stockholders. This might have been the point: spread the narrative, in any forum, before any audience, regardless of whether they actually decide to throw their cash in the game. 

And then there were the plentiful headlines generated since the process first kicked off in October. Any news is better than no news.

Maybe the Microsoft “loss” is a good thing. Does every company need to keep bitcoin on its balance sheet? How many MicroStrategies does the market need? Would such a trend push bitcoin further away from its original goal of a trustless, digital cash?

Then again, it’s not technically over yet. As Microsoft itself has said, bitcoin is still in the air — it’s just not trying to aggressively move forward at this time. Maybe the promised national bitcoin hoard the Trump administration may pursue will spur more MicroStrategy-like…strategies…from taking shape in American boardrooms. 

We’ll just have to wait and see.

And now, on to the roundup:

— Michael McSweeney

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