Michael Saylor: Building a Digital Credit System with Bitcoin as the Underlying Asset, Potentially Giving Rise to New Digital Currencies in the Future

Odaily News MicroStrategy Executive Chairman Michael Saylor delivered a keynote speech titled "Digital Credit" at the MicroStrategy World 2026 conference, outlining his vision for a layered digital financial system with Bitcoin as its core asset.

He proposed that the first layer of this system is "Digital Capital," which is Bitcoin itself. The second layer is "Digital Credit," referring to financial instruments issued based on Bitcoin, such as the perpetual preferred stocks STRC, STRK, STRF, and STRD issued by MicroStrategy. These aim to provide an approximate 10% annualized return target while reducing the volatility associated with directly holding Bitcoin. The third layer is "Digital Money," which includes stablecoins and payment tools further derived from the aforementioned financial products, such as the USDat stablecoin issued based on STRC and U.S. Treasury bonds.

Saylor stated that both Digital Credit and Digital Money are underpinned by Bitcoin as the underlying asset, differing from fiat currency systems based on national credit. Their returns are derived from the long-term performance of Bitcoin's price.