Michael Saylor presented data from River this week showing that more than 60 government currencies have failed since 1700, with the average fiat currency lasting just 27 years. The presentation, which included examples like the German papiermark (1923), the Hungarian pengő (1946), and the Zimbabwe dollar (2008), is the latest push from the MicroStrategy chairman to frame Bitcoin as a superior store of value.
The River data
River's analysis tracks a representative sample of fiat currencies, not a full census. The firm acknowledges that many pre-1971 currencies had partial gold backing, which complicates the comparison. Still, the numbers are stark: the US dollar has lost 97% of its buying power, the British pound 99.7%, the Japanese yen 99.9%, and the euro 44% since its 1999 launch.
River also claims that the average cryptocurrency doesn't last a year and that nearly all fall to zero when priced in Bitcoin. That's a claim Saylor didn't dwell on, but it fits his broader thesis.
Saylor's Bitcoin thesis
Saylor views Bitcoin as digital property — scarce global capital meant for final settlement, not everyday payments. He believes Bitcoin will underpin a new financial system built on digital capital, credit, and money. The presentation didn't address how that system would handle volatility or adoption hurdles.
StarkWare CEO pushes back
Not everyone buys the fixed-supply argument. StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson challenged Bitcoin's 21 million cap, arguing that lost keys will shrink the usable supply forever. Chainalysis estimated that up to 3.79 million BTC were unrecoverable by 2017. If Ben-Sasson is right, the effective supply could be far lower than the headline number — a point Saylor's data didn't cover.
MicroStrategy's latest move
MicroStrategy still holds 843,775 BTC, the largest corporate stash. But this month it sold 3,588 BTC — its biggest sale since 2022. The company didn't say why, and the timing isn't great: Bitcoin has been under pressure for months. The sale chips away at a position Saylor has long called a core treasury asset.
Whether lost keys will permanently cap Bitcoin's usable supply is an open question. Saylor's presentation made the case for fiat's fragility, but it left that challenge unanswered.
