Keynote: Jack Mallers – The Bitcoin Company | Bitcoin 2026

[0:00] What's going on, Bitcoin? How are we?
[0:07] Yo.
[0:09] Um, all right. So, uh, thank you guys
[0:11] for joining me today.
[0:13] The title of my keynote is the Bitcoin
[0:16] company.
[0:17] All right.
[0:18] For those of you that don't know,
[0:20] I'm actually the CEO of two
[0:23] Bitcoin companies.
[0:25] And I was talking with my staff, my
[0:27] chief of staff,
[0:29] and I said, you know what? Everyone's
[0:30] always talking about how I'm wearing
[0:32] multiple hats, and I have things to say
[0:35] about both my companies. So, as I was
[0:37] packing for Las Vegas,
[0:40] I figured I would bring both my hats.
[0:44] And so, yeah.
[0:46] And so, here's what we're going to do.
[0:47] Uh, first, I'm going to put on the
[0:49] Strike hat. So, we've got a ton of new
[0:51] exciting products that I think you guys
[0:52] are going to love. We'll put the 21 hat
[0:55] down right here. We'll get back to 21 in
[0:57] a second. And, uh, let's talk about
[0:59] Strike. I got some exciting stuff for
[1:01] Bitcoiners.
[1:02] So,
[1:04] you guys can think of Strike like, uh,
[1:07] global Bitcoin bank. Now, the asterisk
[1:10] at the bottom is super important. We're
[1:12] not actually a bank. That requires a
[1:14] license that I don't have.
[1:16] But, you can think of us like a bank. We
[1:18] sell Bitcoin financial services. So,
[1:22] we're known predominantly for these
[1:24] products. We have buying and selling
[1:27] Bitcoin. In fact, you can acquire
[1:29] Bitcoin with no fees on our platform.
[1:32] You can withdraw that Bitcoin to cold
[1:33] storage with no fees. You can get your
[1:36] direct deposit into Strike. You can pay
[1:38] bills with Strike. We have two different
[1:42] credit products. We have Bitcoin backed
[1:44] loans.
[1:46] We have a Bitcoin line of credit. I
[1:48] personally live my life on this product.
[1:52] Uh,
[1:52] I I got debanked by Chase not too long
[1:55] ago. And, uh, my company became my
[1:58] primary financial account um and it
[2:00] suits me perfectly and many others as a
[2:03] Bitcoiner.
[2:05] So,
[2:06] recently on this stage last year,
[2:09] we announced Strike Lending. Okay? And
[2:12] part of this product, I was deeply
[2:14] inspired by my friend Ross Stevens. I
[2:16] want to read this quote to you guys that
[2:19] he wrote in his Stone Ridge 2024
[2:21] Shareholder Investor Letter.
[2:23] He said, "We hope our money keeps its
[2:26] value long enough for us to trade it in
[2:28] the future for something that we
[2:29] actually want. An education, a dream
[2:33] house,
[2:34] a wedding, a bucket list trip.
[2:37] Every never sell hodler will need to
[2:40] sell someday. They'll need liquidity
[2:42] someday.
[2:43] That's the entire point of having money
[2:46] in the first place.
[2:47] And last year I talked about this idea
[2:50] that money is ultimately a means to an
[2:52] end.
[2:53] Right? I don't value my Bitcoins because
[2:56] I can eat them, cuz I can live in them,
[2:59] cuz I can get married to them,
[3:01] because I can fly them, cuz I can drive
[3:03] them. I value my Bitcoins because how
[3:05] good they are
[3:07] at protecting the wealth that I've
[3:09] earned and allowing me to exchange it
[3:11] for those things when I need them.
[3:15] And so we launched this Bitcoin backed
[3:17] lending product as a way to allow
[3:20] Bitcoiners to get liquidity and change
[3:22] their lives with Bitcoin.
[3:24] I mean, for many of you guys in the
[3:25] room, Bitcoin's probably changed your
[3:27] life. Well, asset that's going up 30,
[3:30] 40, 50% a year on average depending on
[3:32] when you bought, that's real wealth and
[3:35] you want that wealth to impact your
[3:37] family, impact your kids,
[3:39] take you on a nice vacation, get you a
[3:41] nicer house, but you don't want to part
[3:43] with the Bitcoin. You don't want to sell
[3:45] the sats. Is there a way to get
[3:46] liquidity without having to part with
[3:49] the sats? Never sell your Bitcoin,
[3:51] right? And so this product has been a
[3:53] smashing hit for us. I've
[3:56] I mean, I've been working on Bitcoin for
[3:58] almost 14 years
[4:00] at this point. I just turned 32. I
[4:02] started working on Bitcoin when I was 18
[4:04] years old.
[4:06] These Bitcoin credit products are the
[4:07] most successful products I've ever
[4:09] launched in my entire life. And I've
[4:11] been all around the block and back. I
[4:13] failed many times over.
[4:15] And these products have found such
[4:17] product market fit for the reason that
[4:20] it allows Bitcoiners to let Bitcoin
[4:22] benefit their life without having to
[4:24] part with the Bitcoin.
[4:26] And so
[4:28] I have some announcements for you guys
[4:30] on our Bitcoin lending product.
[4:32] For starters
[4:34] we now have our Bitcoin backed loans and
[4:37] our Bitcoin line of credit in almost the
[4:40] entire map of the United States. These
[4:42] loans are also available in countries
[4:44] around the world in clear including the
[4:47] European Union and some and some
[4:48] countries. And so we are unbelievably
[4:51] excited to finally have both fixed term
[4:54] loans and a Bitcoin line of credit which
[4:56] acts almost like a HELOC, like a rolling
[4:58] real-time loan that you can live your
[5:00] life on, pay your bills on, strike, get
[5:02] your groceries, and make sure that you
[5:04] can live the way I use the product is I
[5:06] live on my credit cards. I go to Whole
[5:07] Foods, get a couple steaks, swipe my
[5:09] credit cards, and my Bitcoin line of
[5:11] credit pays off my credit card, pays my
[5:13] rent, pays my mortgage, pays my car
[5:16] note.
[5:18] Next uh I know you guys I know you guys
[5:21] on Twitter. I recognize you some of
[5:23] these faces uh want us to lower our
[5:25] pricing.
[5:27] Well, I'm really excited that we were
[5:29] able to lower our pricing quite
[5:31] significantly.
[5:32] So, the way we price our products is by
[5:35] tiers. It depends on the size of the
[5:37] loan.
[5:38] But we're able to bring our pricing all
[5:40] the way down to the lowest of 7.49%.
[5:44] But thank you. I appreciate that.
[5:52] And so, we we of course, as a business,
[5:54] we want to be the most competitive and
[5:56] hopefully the most accessible and
[5:58] trusted way for you guys to conduct
[6:00] finances with Bitcoin. And we're all
[6:02] here for Bitcoin. Bitcoin's a material
[6:04] part of our lives. And we want to be we
[6:07] we do not want to be offering you the
[6:10] highest rates. We want to be as
[6:12] competitive as cheap as we possibly can,
[6:13] as trusted as as we possibly can. So,
[6:15] we're very excited about that.
[6:18] Another one, uh proof of reserves.
[6:22] You know, it's interesting serving
[6:24] multiple Bitcoin products. For folks
[6:26] that buy Bitcoin on Strike, the best
[6:28] thing you can do to prove that your
[6:30] Bitcoin is your Bitcoin is withdraw to
[6:32] cold storage, right? And we offer that
[6:35] for free. You can withdraw your Bitcoin
[6:36] to cold storage for free. We highly
[6:38] recommend that. We encourage it. You can
[6:40] always reach out to our support staff
[6:42] and we're very happy to walk you through
[6:44] it.
[6:45] For our lending product, it's been
[6:46] interesting because obviously when
[6:48] you're posting collateral for a loan,
[6:50] you can't withdraw that collateral. And
[6:53] so, customers, all of you all, have say,
[6:55] "Hey, we would really appreciate if you
[6:57] could bring about more transparency that
[6:59] our collateral sitting there, more
[7:00] transparency that we can trust you with
[7:03] such an important transaction and
[7:04] financing of our lives." I mean, Bitcoin
[7:07] for many of us is our savings account.
[7:09] It's arguably the most important
[7:11] financial piece of our lives. And so, we
[7:15] are super proud to announce that we are
[7:17] also publishing our first iteration of
[7:20] our lending proof of reserves. And so,
[7:22] you'll be able to find this on our
[7:23] website. We aim to publish these
[7:25] quarterly with external auditors, so
[7:28] that our customers know that your
[7:30] collateral is there, we are who we say
[7:32] we are, and we don't blame the community
[7:35] and our customers for wanting that level
[7:37] of transparency and trust. We actually
[7:39] are really excited to be able to deliver
[7:40] on it. So, you guys will be able to find
[7:43] this on our website and in our FAQ for
[7:45] all the customers that want to see our
[7:47] lending proof of reserves.
[7:56] Next, we have partnered with Tether
[8:00] on a slew of really, really exciting
[8:04] both features, facilities that are
[8:07] either able to use for uh certain
[8:09] customers or up and coming for all of
[8:12] you guys.
[8:13] Uh
[8:14] big shout out to Tether, obviously. You
[8:16] guys know my relationship with them.
[8:17] Unbelievable business, great Bitcoiners.
[8:20] And uh we're really excited to unveil a
[8:21] few things. One, as part of our lending
[8:24] product, we're going to segregate
[8:26] address collateral for customers with
[8:29] certain size loans. Meaning, some
[8:31] customers came to us and said, "Hey
[8:33] Jack, if I'm giving you 50 Bitcoin for a
[8:36] loan, you mind putting it in an address
[8:38] that I can wake up and I can look at and
[8:40] I can see on the blockchain and I can
[8:42] verify with my own eyes that it's
[8:44] sitting there?"
[8:45] And we said, "Absolutely. That's a great
[8:47] idea. Of course Of course we can do
[8:49] that." And so, Tether, as one of our
[8:51] facilitators of loans,
[8:53] we worked together on enabling, again,
[8:55] the most ultimate transparency we can
[8:57] possibly give to you Bitcoiners in
[8:59] ensuring that if you want to get a loan
[9:02] against your Bitcoin, get a line of
[9:03] credit against your Bitcoin, you can see
[9:05] the collateral in an address, wake up,
[9:08] you can cuddle, you can
[9:09] with your phone in bed and just stare at
[9:12] the collateral, just knowing that it's
[9:13] there and that it's safe and that we are
[9:15] who we say we are. And so, for customers
[9:18] that are interested in this, we are
[9:19] currently offering it as part of our
[9:21] private client desk. You can reach out
[9:23] to private@strike.me
[9:25] if you're interested in opening a loan
[9:27] or you have an existing loan where you
[9:29] want to segregate the collateral into a
[9:32] separate address that you can observe,
[9:34] you can watch, and you can ensure that
[9:36] there's never any rehypothecation,
[9:37] there's never any funny business. We are
[9:40] a principled Bitcoin only firm that is
[9:42] dedicated to serving Bitcoiners.
[9:52] Now the this next one's arguably my
[9:54] favorite feature. Um
[9:56] so, I'm going to play a little video.
[9:58] This is easily the number one request we
[10:01] get for people that are interested in
[10:03] Bitcoin-backed lending or interested in
[10:05] potentially improving their lives with a
[10:07] way of accessing their Bitcoin wealth
[10:09] without having to get rid of the Bitcoin
[10:11] itself.
[10:19] The volatility is real. Bitcoin's
[10:20] volatility
[10:21] >> volatility of
[10:22] Uh speed bumps or volatility Technology
[10:25] and human nature sometimes are a
[10:27] volatile mix, aren't they?
[10:52] So, we are super excited to announce a
[10:55] new product that we'll be rolling out
[10:57] called volatility-proof
[10:59] loans. The idea is extremely simple,
[11:02] guys. Customers say, "Jack,
[11:04] what if the price wicks down? What if
[11:07] there's some volatility? What if there's
[11:09] a headline from the US government? Or
[11:11] what if the stock market crashes? I
[11:13] don't want you to liquidate my Bitcoin.
[11:15] That's my greatest fear. As long as I
[11:17] know that the collateral sitting in an
[11:20] address, you have proof of reserves,
[11:22] nothing's rehypothecated, I just don't
[11:25] want to get liquidated."
[11:27] And we thought and we worked with Tether
[11:29] really hard on we don't want to
[11:31] liquidate anybody. Of course, we don't.
[11:33] There's got to be a way to allow
[11:36] customers to pay a fee and say, "No
[11:39] matter what, don't touch my Bitcoin.
[11:43] I'll either default on the loan or
[11:45] everything will work out, but if the
[11:46] price wicks down, leave me out of it."
[11:50] And we have built that product. I am It
[11:53] is It was not easy. I'm super excited
[11:56] about it. And big thanks to Tether.
[11:59] Shoutout to the Strike team. This is the
[12:00] number one feature request we get is if
[12:03] I can know that my collateral sitting
[12:05] there and that I'm not going to get
[12:07] liquidated, I finally feel comfortable
[12:10] getting liquidity against my Bitcoin
[12:12] without selling it.
[12:14] So, this product, again, please reach
[12:17] out to private@strike.me.
[12:19] We're going to roll this out to selected
[12:21] customers first. If you're interested in
[12:23] a volatility-proof loan, a loan where
[12:26] you will not get liquidated, please let
[12:28] us know. Please reach out. will roll out
[12:30] as part of a white glove service. And
[12:32] then very soon, hopefully in the coming
[12:34] weeks or months, we're able to put it in
[12:36] the app for all of our customers all
[12:38] over the world.
[12:48] And the last big announcement is the new
[12:50] credit facility that we have with
[12:51] Tether. Um
[12:53] I I called the Tether guys. I said,
[12:55] "Hey, listen. The biggest inhibitor to
[12:59] the growth of credit in the Bitcoin
[13:01] space, giving Bitcoiners a slew of
[13:05] financial products, not just a 12-month
[13:07] Bitcoin-backed loan, but what about a
[13:09] line of credit? What about a
[13:10] Bitcoin-backed credit card? There's so
[13:13] much we at Strike can do and the
[13:15] ambitions that we have, but the problem
[13:18] is who's going to finance it? Where's
[13:20] the money going to come from?
[13:21] Unfortunately,
[13:22] Bitcoin-backed loans don't have implicit
[13:25] government guarantees yet. It's been
[13:27] very difficult for the space to be able
[13:29] to find financing.
[13:31] And Tether said, "We got your back."
[13:34] Any amount of capital, you let us know,
[13:36] and we're here for Bitcoiners with you
[13:38] guys. And so, we are going to start out
[13:41] with a $2.1 billion
[13:44] facility to make sure that we can meet
[13:46] any amount of demand, any order size. I
[13:49] challenge you guys to try me. Try me,
[13:52] and try to give me an order that you
[13:53] don't think I can fill, and I promise
[13:56] you Tether and I can fill that order,
[13:58] and we're tremendously excited to bring
[14:00] the level of scale to the Bitcoin-backed
[14:02] credit market so that Bitcoiners have
[14:05] all sorts of luxurious options,
[14:06] hopefully, in the coming years to
[14:08] utilize their Bitcoin without selling
[14:10] it.
[14:14] Don't be shy. Thank you, guys. Thank
[14:16] you.
[14:19] So, from the Strike side, I still got my
[14:20] Strike hat on. Here's a summary of our
[14:23] announcements. Our our lending arm of
[14:25] the business has been unbelievable.
[14:28] To all of our customers, thank you,
[14:29] guys. Thank you, guys, for trusting in
[14:31] us. Thank you, guys, for coming to us
[14:32] with your business. It's been the
[14:34] fastest-growing product I've ever
[14:36] launched in my Bitcoin career, and this
[14:38] is a summary of how we're improving,
[14:39] arguably, the most popular suite of
[14:42] products that we have at the company.
[14:46] All right.
[14:47] Time for Time for a a dress change.
[14:50] Back to my two hats. Let me take my
[14:52] Strike hat off. Lawyers, hat off.
[14:57] And let me put my 21 hat on.
[15:00] Cuz I want to talk about 21.
[15:03] So, 21.
[15:05] You guys may have seen,
[15:07] but my co-founders,
[15:09] who are also the largest shareholder in
[15:12] the business,
[15:14] issued a press release today
[15:17] with a strategic plan that they support
[15:21] for the next phase of the business.
[15:24] And that plan is a set of proposed
[15:26] transactions
[15:28] that would merge 21 and Strike, my other
[15:32] company that I just mentioned, and 21
[15:35] and Electron,
[15:37] Tether's Bitcoin infrastructure mining
[15:39] business.
[15:41] So, the press release
[15:43] goes on to state,
[15:45] "Strike is a global financial services
[15:46] firm, as I just explained to you guys.
[15:49] You can buy, you can sell, you can hold.
[15:51] We're regulated and licensed all over
[15:53] the world with an ability to distribute
[15:55] Bitcoin products to anybody where we're
[15:59] available. We can distribute credit
[16:02] products, brokerage products, custody
[16:04] products. It's a Bitcoin distribution
[16:06] company that is able to service any
[16:09] Bitcoiner in the world. We just have to
[16:11] build it."
[16:13] And the other piece of the proposed
[16:15] transaction is Electron.
[16:17] I mean, this business is huge. There's
[16:20] 50 exahash across the platform. It
[16:23] represents roughly 5% of the current
[16:27] Bitcoin network as I talked to you guys.
[16:30] Tether and my co-founders have poured a
[16:31] tremendous amount of resources in
[16:34] physical Bitcoin infrastructure, in
[16:36] things like mining, not only for
[16:39] economic benefit,
[16:41] make a make Bitcoins, be able to produce
[16:43] Bitcoins high margin profitable arm of
[16:45] their company, but also for
[16:47] philosophical reasons, because Bitcoin
[16:51] has a physical piece of the network, of
[16:54] the asset class, and wanting to
[16:56] contribute and protect the Bitcoin
[16:58] network and the Bitcoin asset was within
[17:01] Tether's philosophical beliefs and the
[17:03] responsibility that they believe they
[17:04] carry. They also propose to merge this
[17:07] business into 21 as well.
[17:11] So,
[17:13] you want to clap? Go ahead.
[17:14] Thank you.
[17:16] Uh
[17:18] So
[17:20] So I uh
[17:23] So I'm talking to them, obviously my
[17:24] co-founders, and I said, "Well, I'm
[17:26] going on stage at the Bitcoin
[17:27] conference. I should probably say
[17:29] something, shouldn't I? I should
[17:30] probably give my opinion."
[17:32] And so, I want to talk to you guys as
[17:34] the CEO of 21 what I think about the
[17:37] strategic direction of merging Strike,
[17:40] merging Electron, and creating a new
[17:42] proposed strategy for 21.
[17:46] Uh
[17:46] Simply put,
[17:48] I think it's a great idea. Ha.
[17:50] I love the idea. Uh ultimately, when I
[17:52] founded this business with Tether, um
[17:54] the goal was always to be a Bitcoin
[17:57] company, produce Bitcoin products,
[17:59] ideally produce cash flow with our
[18:01] businesses, and show our conviction in
[18:03] Bitcoin through our balance sheet. So,
[18:06] I want to tell you guys what I think
[18:08] about the strategy, what my strategy is
[18:10] as the CEO of the company, and talk to
[18:13] you about my thoughts, what we're
[18:15] working on, and comment on Tether's
[18:17] proposed plan.
[18:19] Um so, to understand
[18:22] my opinion, my beliefs, what I think we
[18:25] should do,
[18:26] uh I pose you all this question.
[18:29] What is the ideal Bitcoin company?
[18:33] Just think about it for a second.
[18:36] If you can close your eyes and snap your
[18:37] fingers, what would be the perfect
[18:40] Bitcoin company to you?
[18:43] And everyone can have a different
[18:44] answer, right? Bitcoin is nobody's to
[18:47] define and own outright.
[18:50] But I want to walk you guys what I think
[18:53] the ideal Bitcoin company would be, and
[18:55] what I want to build, and where I would
[18:57] like to see 21 go.
[19:01] So, to do this, I created this little
[19:04] diagram, okay? I'm I'm no artist here.
[19:08] But it's pretty straightforward.
[19:10] On one axis, you have
[19:12] extremely low conviction in Bitcoin.
[19:14] Companies that don't necessarily care
[19:17] that much about Bitcoin.
[19:19] Versus companies that are extremely
[19:21] highly convicted in Bitcoin. They
[19:23] believe Bitcoin is the best money. You
[19:24] should capitalize your balance sheet on
[19:26] Bitcoin. That Bitcoin is the future.
[19:30] And then on the other axis, you have
[19:31] businesses that are low operating
[19:33] income. They don't focus or care about
[19:36] their operating company.
[19:38] And on the other side, you have high
[19:40] operating income. Some of the most
[19:42] successful companies in the world that
[19:43] produce loads and loads of cash flow and
[19:45] have an ability to finance the world
[19:47] they want to see through the productive
[19:49] business that they're building. Make
[19:51] sense?
[19:54] So,
[19:55] I personally would put crypto exchanges
[19:58] in this quadrant.
[20:00] Crypto exchanges are extremely high
[20:03] operating income businesses. These
[20:05] businesses from an economic standpoint
[20:07] are awesome.
[20:09] I mean, looking at the earnings of
[20:10] something like a Binance or a Coinbase
[20:13] or a Robinhood or even now learning of
[20:15] the prediction markets, Polymarket,
[20:17] Kalshi. These businesses make tons of
[20:20] money. They're worth tens of billions of
[20:22] dollars. At some point, some of these
[20:23] businesses have been worth hundreds of
[20:25] billions of dollars.
[20:27] But I would also describe them as low
[20:29] conviction in Bitcoin.
[20:32] Right?
[20:33] I would say I read Coinbase's Q4
[20:37] shareholder letter and I was looking at
[20:39] some of their financials.
[20:40] And Coinbase holds over 10 billion
[20:43] dollars of fiat on their balance sheet
[20:46] versus 1 billion dollars of Bitcoin.
[20:49] And Coinbase economically is an
[20:51] incredible company. I would love for 21
[20:54] to get to the point where we are doing
[20:57] the same amount of revenue with the same
[20:58] amount of customers and the same amount
[21:00] of operating profits as Coinbase. I
[21:01] think in this room, we all would like to
[21:03] see that. At least if you're a fan of me
[21:05] and and you want me to do. Well, yeah,
[21:06] that'd be great.
[21:08] But like you
[21:10] But I would say that this is this does
[21:12] not display Bitcoin conviction. Does it
[21:14] to you guys?
[21:16] I mean this look when I looked at this,
[21:17] I was like, does Coinbase even believe
[21:20] in what we're working on?
[21:22] I thought we were trying to replace the
[21:25] old financial system and build a new
[21:27] one.
[21:29] Holding 10 times the amount of fiat as
[21:31] you do Bitcoin doesn't display to me as
[21:33] incredibly high conviction in Bitcoin.
[21:36] It's a great business, unbelievable
[21:37] business.
[21:39] I just don't know how much conviction
[21:40] Coinbase has in Bitcoin.
[21:44] This tweet and I got to preface. I know
[21:47] Jim Chanos is the ultimate short seller
[21:50] and is perceived to sound bearish
[21:53] anytime he talks. I actually know the
[21:55] CEO of Robinhood, Vlad. Unbelievably
[21:58] sweet guy. He's been nothing but nice to
[22:00] me. So I have to caveat my words here
[22:02] carefully.
[22:03] But this tweet from Jim Chanos I think
[22:06] is really interesting. He says, "It
[22:08] looks like Hood customers lost about 5%
[22:11] in February. Total platform assets
[22:14] dropped $10.2 billion in the month to
[22:17] $314.2 billion.
[22:19] But that includes a $5.6 billion in net
[22:22] deposits.
[22:23] So the implied loss of $15.8 billion was
[22:26] 4.9% of end to end of January total
[22:30] platform assets of $324.4 billion.
[22:34] The S&P 500 was only down 90 basis
[22:36] points. And that might sound a lot
[22:38] financial gibberish to some of you guys
[22:41] in the audience. What Jim is trying to
[22:43] say is the S&P 500 was only down less
[22:46] than a percent, but somehow Robinhood
[22:48] customers lost 5%.
[22:51] And what Jim is implying here
[22:54] is not that Robinhood is a bad company.
[22:56] In fact, of all the companies I've
[22:58] mentioned, Robinhood might be the the
[23:00] valuable. It might do the most revenue.
[23:02] It might be experiencing the most
[23:03] growth, and it might have the most
[23:05] operating income.
[23:07] But, the platform is for hyper
[23:09] speculation.
[23:11] You go to Robinhood to speculate on
[23:13] crypto coins. You go to Robinhood to
[23:15] speculate on the weather. You go to
[23:17] Robinhood to punt options on an earnings
[23:19] that you might not know a lot about.
[23:21] Robinhood is very open about being the
[23:23] place to pick stocks, speculate, what's
[23:27] the next GameStop, what's the next GME.
[23:30] And so, again, I would say that this
[23:32] business is extremely successful from an
[23:36] economic standpoint.
[23:38] But, what's the ideal Bitcoin company? I
[23:41] would say they don't have a lot of
[23:42] conviction in Bitcoin. I'm not sure they
[23:44] care much about Bitcoin. In fact, I have
[23:47] no idea. But, from their financials,
[23:50] from their messaging, from their
[23:51] products, it's not clear to me they're
[23:53] highly convicted in Bitcoin.
[23:57] Now,
[23:58] Bitcoin treasury companies, I personally
[24:01] would place in this quadrant, in the
[24:04] bottom right.
[24:05] And I would say Bitcoin treasury
[24:07] companies are the opposites. Bitcoin
[24:09] treasury companies sell Bitcoin
[24:11] conviction.
[24:13] That's why they're here. They are
[24:15] capital markets plus Bitcoin conviction.
[24:18] That's what they're about, that's what
[24:20] they do, and that has produced some of
[24:23] the greatest success stories in the
[24:25] history of Bitcoin.
[24:27] These companies are also tremendously
[24:29] successful. MicroStrategy, Metaplanet,
[24:32] these have been tremendous success
[24:34] stories on net for Bitcoin.
[24:36] But, I would also say they don't focus
[24:38] about on their operating business.
[24:41] They're not focused
[24:42] on bringing Bitcoin products to
[24:44] Bitcoiners. They're not focused on
[24:46] generating cash flow, necessarily.
[24:49] They're not focused on building a high
[24:52] operating income business.
[24:55] Right? When you look at
[24:57] the top 100 public Bitcoin treasury
[24:59] companies, I think it's super
[25:01] interesting because strategy 21,
[25:04] admittedly as of today, meta planet, I
[25:08] mean Bitcoin standard treasury company,
[25:10] these businesses don't talk about or
[25:13] mention or focus on their operating
[25:15] company at all. I actually don't know if
[25:18] these businesses have customers or cash
[25:21] flows or growth or exciting products
[25:23] they're working on to advance their
[25:26] world view and where they want to see
[25:27] the world going.
[25:29] So,
[25:30] I find it interesting on one side of the
[25:32] spectrum for me,
[25:35] you have extremely successful businesses
[25:38] that have no conviction in Bitcoin at
[25:40] all. And on the other side of the
[25:42] spectrum, you have
[25:44] extremely
[25:46] convicted businesses in Bitcoin and they
[25:48] never sell and they want to stack all
[25:50] the Bitcoin they can, but they don't
[25:52] necessarily focus on building products
[25:54] and cash flow and growth. In my dream,
[25:58] the ideal Bitcoin company, why I started
[26:00] 21 with Tether and what we want to do
[26:03] together, and why I am supportive of
[26:06] their latest press release for this new
[26:08] strategic direction, is because we want
[26:11] to land in this quadrant.
[26:14] How exciting would that be?
[26:16] And to be honest with you guys, that's
[26:18] always been the Bitcoin company that
[26:20] I've wanted to work for, that I've
[26:22] wanted to own equity in, that I'd wanted
[26:25] to use as a customer. That's my dream.
[26:27] That's my dream of a Bitcoin company.
[26:31] And so that's what I think we're going
[26:33] to do
[26:34] with this proposed strategic direction,
[26:36] and I want to walk you guys through a
[26:37] little bit more detail on the vision and
[26:39] why I think 21 and my vision fits within
[26:43] this quadrant.
[26:45] So, what is the ideal Bitcoin company?
[26:47] Here's my opinion. One,
[26:50] the ideal Bitcoin company has a
[26:52] financial services arm, where it can
[26:54] service any Bitcoin financial product
[26:56] and distribute that product globally,
[26:58] right? So,
[27:00] every financial product the Bitcoin
[27:01] economy needs, distributed in as many
[27:04] markets where it's compliant and
[27:05] regulated to do so. And I'm talking
[27:07] about brokerage, where you can buy and
[27:09] sell Bitcoin, custody, where you can
[27:11] hold Bitcoin, lending and credit,
[27:14] payments and rails, treasury services,
[27:16] prime services, banking services,
[27:18] structured products.
[27:20] Can Strike be this for 21? I think it
[27:23] can.
[27:24] I think it can. This is a financial
[27:27] services and distribution arm of a
[27:29] Bitcoin company that is able to build
[27:31] and service Bitcoin products for the
[27:34] Bitcoin economy, for Bitcoin customers,
[27:36] and do so profitably while generating
[27:38] cash cash flow and optimizing for
[27:40] growth.
[27:43] The next chapter of the ideal Bitcoin
[27:45] company, and where I'd like to take 21,
[27:48] is Bitcoin infrastructure, physical
[27:50] infrastructure, industrial-scale Bitcoin
[27:52] production at the lowest cost.
[27:54] And this is where Tether has poured a
[27:55] tremendous amount of their time, energy,
[27:58] and capital, and resources, and money
[28:01] into what I call the physical layer of
[28:03] the Bitcoin economy. You know, the
[28:05] no-coiners get really upset. I can't see
[28:07] the Bitcoin. I can't touch the Bitcoin.
[28:09] I can't bend the Bitcoin. Where is the
[28:12] Bitcoin? But what's funny is you can see
[28:14] miners. You can see physical sites. You
[28:17] can see energy contracts, right?
[28:20] And so, the second division of the ideal
[28:23] Bitcoin company is the physical layer,
[28:26] industrial-scale low-cost production of
[28:28] vertically integrated division of the
[28:31] business that goes from pure energy to
[28:33] producing Bitcoins. And so, the business
[28:36] ideally doesn't just buy Bitcoin with
[28:38] cash flow and with capital markets
[28:40] access, but it mines Bitcoin. It
[28:42] produces Bitcoin, and it's a participant
[28:44] in securing the network and
[28:47] participating in the physical economy
[28:49] that is the Bitcoin network.
[28:53] The next division is capital markets.
[28:55] Just because I want to build products
[28:57] and I want to service you guys with
[28:59] unbelievable tools that hopefully push
[29:02] Bitcoin and this mission that we're all
[29:03] here for in the right direction, we can
[29:06] absolutely still use capital markets to
[29:09] further our agenda and our vision. So,
[29:12] using our treasury to grow and using
[29:15] cash flow to ideally have non-diluted
[29:17] leverage, what if 21 can issue a
[29:21] preferred theoretically or issue a
[29:24] convertible bond theoretically, but not
[29:26] have to sell common stock to finance it?
[29:29] Able to finance these things with cash
[29:30] flow. What would be possible for the
[29:33] ideal Bitcoin company in the capital
[29:35] markets? Well, this could be the
[29:38] financing engine for the dream. We would
[29:41] issue against our treasury, we can
[29:42] originate against the network, we can
[29:44] securitize things like mining, things
[29:47] like lending, we can securitize our loan
[29:49] book, can securitize our mining revenue,
[29:51] we can build structured products, fixed
[29:53] income products, and bonds. Can have
[29:55] Bitcoin backed debt. I mean, with a
[29:57] company that lives in that upper right
[29:59] quadrant, that's building businesses,
[30:01] that's producing cash flow, that's able
[30:04] to build a network of companies that's
[30:07] so integrated and invested in the space,
[30:09] access to the capital markets takes on a
[30:11] different meaning, totally and
[30:13] completely.
[30:15] And then the last division of the
[30:16] business is mergers and acquisitions.
[30:19] As I've mentioned, I've been in the
[30:20] Bitcoin space for almost 14 years, okay?
[30:24] Since I was 18 years old. There are
[30:26] plenty of unbelievable
[30:28] companies and assets that live in this
[30:30] space, and we think that at an
[30:33] attractive valuation,
[30:35] they'd actually be better off joining
[30:37] this ideal company, in joining this
[30:39] mission, in joining us in both producing
[30:41] amazing products and amazing cash flow
[30:43] and moving the world in what we think is
[30:45] the right direction while also
[30:48] displaying our conviction on our balance
[30:50] sheet, acquiring as much Bitcoin as we
[30:52] can, not being afraid to to use
[30:54] leverage, to use our cash flow, and to
[30:56] use capital markets to do so. So, what
[30:58] would that look like?
[30:59] I mean, ideally we're interested in
[31:02] acquiring profitable Bitcoin companies
[31:03] and strategic Bitcoin assets. There's so
[31:06] many. This space is full of unbelievable
[31:08] builders that are convicted along the
[31:10] same vision that I am, and we can
[31:12] compound other companies' cash flows. We
[31:14] can compound the valuable assets that
[31:16] other businesses have that will grow our
[31:19] network effect, grow our economies of
[31:21] scale, and really grow this Bitcoin
[31:23] machine that I'm laying out in front of
[31:26] you guys that Tether and I are really
[31:27] aligned in uh proposing and executing as
[31:31] the future of 21.
[31:34] And so,
[31:35] in my opinion,
[31:37] this to me is the ideal Bitcoin company.
[31:41] It's the dream Bitcoin company. It's a
[31:44] Bitcoin company that's able to produce
[31:46] cash flow, produce profits, change the
[31:48] world with its products, participate in
[31:50] the physical Bitcoin economy with energy
[31:53] and miners and electricity and
[31:55] production of the commodity itself,
[31:57] whilst also continuing to stack as much
[32:00] Bitcoin as possible for our
[32:01] shareholders, continuing to innovate and
[32:04] take Bitcoin even further in the capital
[32:06] markets, and pursue extremely exciting
[32:09] strategic mergers and acquisitions.
[32:13] So, this
[32:16] is the vision for 21.
[32:18] 21
[32:20] will live in the top right quadrant.
[32:23] That's my vision. That's why I support
[32:26] our largest shareholder and my
[32:27] co-founder in this new strategic
[32:29] direction, and why I'm tremendously
[32:30] excited about it as the CEO, because
[32:33] ultimately, just to be candid with you
[32:35] guys, that's why I'm here.
[32:38] This is why I'm here.
[32:51] I have to be careful because at this
[32:53] point, you know, people will clip my my
[32:57] videos and my words and they'll
[32:59] sometimes quote me out of context and so
[33:01] I want to be extremely clear.
[33:04] A Robinhood, a Coinbase, a Binance,
[33:07] those are incredible businesses. They
[33:09] produce tons of cash, they've
[33:11] experienced tons of growth
[33:13] and I would love to hit those financial
[33:17] metrics someday, but I personally
[33:19] believe too much in Bitcoin
[33:22] and too much about how it can change the
[33:24] world and do right for society to list
[33:27] other crypto coins, to encourage people
[33:29] to do sports gambling via prediction
[33:31] markets. That's not me and that's not
[33:33] going to be my company.
[33:43] I also want to be clear that I
[33:45] absolutely admire Michael Saylor for
[33:47] some somehow the internet works in
[33:49] mysterious ways. People think I don't.
[33:52] Of course I do.
[33:54] What a genius.
[33:55] I mean, what he did is one of the more
[33:56] remarkable stories in the history of
[33:58] finance.
[33:59] And Bitcoin treasury companies
[34:01] are great. I think they've been a net
[34:03] positive for the space. I mean, I think
[34:04] Saylor's orange peeled more people than
[34:06] arguably anyone ever. You can certainly
[34:09] make the argument. But for me, I want to
[34:12] build things. I'm a builder and to me,
[34:15] Bitcoin not only lives on a balance
[34:17] sheet, but also in the hands of the
[34:19] people. We need to build products. I
[34:21] want to see Bitcoin improving everyone's
[34:23] life in ways that we couldn't have
[34:26] imagined 20 years ago. I want to be able
[34:29] to get a Bitcoin line of credit. I want
[34:30] to be able to live on a Bitcoin
[34:32] financial services platform. I think
[34:34] Bitcoin can change the world so much
[34:36] further than just capital markets. And
[34:39] so, to me, my company will aim to do
[34:44] both. As long as I am the CEO
[34:47] and I set the direction,
[34:49] that's who we are.
[34:51] And ultimately, this is who we are.
[34:54] And
[35:04] And so, to end the 21 section, that
[35:05] ultimately it is what I want you guys to
[35:08] understand is uh when I say I don't view
[35:12] 21 as a Bitcoin treasury company, and
[35:14] historically people will say, "Well,
[35:15] what do you mean by that? You guys have
[35:17] the second most corporate holdings in
[35:19] the world. You guys have 43,514
[35:22] Bitcoin." Do you guys know what I mean
[35:24] now?
[35:27] When I say I don't want to build a
[35:28] crypto casino, I don't want to be the
[35:30] next Coinbase, and investors say, "What
[35:31] do you mean by that?" Well, do you guys
[35:33] understand now?
[35:35] I want to build something different.
[35:37] I want to build the ideal Bitcoin
[35:38] company. That's why I'm here. That's why
[35:40] I started and that's why I'm at this
[35:41] conference.
[35:43] So,
[35:49] my hope and my co-founder's hope and the
[35:50] larger shareholders' hope is that um
[35:53] we're back to work and we're going to
[35:54] we're going to go execute and uh build
[35:56] something truly different that we
[35:58] believe represents Bitcoin uh in one of
[36:01] the most exciting equities in the
[36:03] capital markets and uh will change the
[36:05] world.
[36:06] And so, with that, I'm back to work. I
[36:09] thank you guys for all the support.
[36:10] Where's my other hat?
[36:12] I'll exit stage like I'm in a rap music
[36:14] video or something.
[36:17] Thank you guys for the support and I
[36:18] look forward to building for you.
[36:27] Every year,
[36:29] this community comes together
[36:31] to celebrate,
[36:33] to debate,
[36:35] to build what comes next.
[36:39] And every year,
[36:41] the stage gets bigger.
[36:46] Sound money
[36:47] center stage. So, where do you go to
[36:51] celebrate the next chapter in Bitcoin
[36:53] history?
[36:56] You come home.
[36:59] Nashville, July 2027.