Barhydt Trashes Saylor’s $350M Bitcoin Vanishing Act

Bill Barhydt, Abra’s CEO and a Bitcoin vet from the $5 era, has no love for Michael Saylor’s plan to make his 17,000 BTC—about $350 million—disappear into an “unsendable wallet” forever. He let it rip on the Supply Shock podcast with Pete Rizzo, calling it “absolutely no sense whatsoever.” 

Saylor, the MicroStrategy mastermind with a Bitcoin fixation, teased this move in a CoinDesk interview.

Saylor’s Logic Doesn’t Add Up

Saylor’s betting that locking his coins away would shrink Bitcoin’s pile and bump up everyone’s buying power. Barhydt gets it but isn’t on board. “His perspective is that this is a gift to the Bitcoin community because if you lower the denominator and the numerator, it helps everybody else in terms of the purchasing power,” he said. 

“My take is, the Bitcoin price predictions community does not need that gift.” The first Bitcoin TED Talk, the guy is shaking his head.

Money Could Go Further

Barhydt is tossing out better ideas. How about education for folks who can’t afford it? Or bitcoin banks in up-and-coming spots? Maybe remittance services too? He said that’ would bring more people in for the long haul. 

He remembered handing out coins back in the day. “When we were giving away bitcoin, it wasn’t like we were telling people, ‘Here, go build your financial fortune,’” he said. “It was like, no, you need to understand how this decentralized system allows you to move value between two parties without some trusted third party in the middle.”

No Grand Exit Needed

Barhydt also swatted down Saylor likening himself to Satoshi Nakamoto, who ditched Bitcoin after starting it. He’s not feeling the vibe. “Saylor is not perceived to be a benevolent dictator of Bitcoin,” he said. 

Saylor doesn’t have to pull a big farewell like that. Barhydt figures it’s more about Saylor’s stash than the network’s future.