From Cypherpunks to Corporations: What Corporate Adoption Means For Bitcoin
The Bitcoin Newsletter 31
Last week I returned from the Strategy World conference in Orlando. It was my first time attending. As many of you know, I’ve been following Michael Saylor and Strategy’s Bitcoin treasury strategy for some time, which I outlined in detail in my long-form report “The Strategy Playbook: Lessons for Real Estate Entrepreneurs”.
The speed at which Saylor and his team have executed their Bitcoin treasury strategy has interested me from the start. Four years into Strategy’s journey, their commitment remains unmatched.
But what truly struck me at Strategy World was this: corporate adoption is unfolding faster than I expected, and its ripple effect on broader adoption may be even more powerful than I had assumed.
Also the energy and enthusiasm of the retail community was outstanding. The MSTR True North team, a grassroots retail group that formed around Strategy, hosted an excellent side event on the first day of the conference.
In this edition, I’ll explain why I believe corporate Bitcoin adoption is a net positive for the entire ecosystem and what risks are associated with it.
Best regards,
Leon
DEEP DIVE
From Cypherpunks to Corporations: What Corporate Adoption Means
Introduction
Corporate adoption brings with it unique dynamics, driven by company scale, regulatory requirements, and execution speed, which naturally lead to different approaches in working with Bitcoin.
From the perspective of early Bitcoiners, especially those like me who have long emphasized the importance of self-custody, this can seem very concerning at first.
But every cohort of Bitcoiners has had its own initial touchpoints with the technology, shaped by the specific needs that first drew them into it.
In the early days, it was the cypherpunks who saw Bitcoin as a counterweight to an all-powerful government in the digital age. Then came the libertarians, crypto-anarchists, monetarists, nerds, traders chasing alpha, and those fleeing government seizure, like in 2013, when many tried to get money out of China.
The early developer community, including figures like Gregory Maxwell and Pieter Wuille, focused on building the protocol itself. Once the network gained momentum, educators like Andreas Antonopoulos emerged.
As Bitcoin matured, a new wave of early adopters, like Gigi and Eric Cason, who had benefited financially from their involvement, began giving back to the community. They helped others understand Bitcoin through code, writing, Twitter, podcasts, and other platforms. This era marked the rise of what became known as “Bitcoin Twitter”, a vibrant grassroots network of early adopters, educators, developers, entrepreneurs and advocates.
Even then, a growing number of Bitcoin companies were emerging. Most of them, however, were focused not on accumulating bitcoin but on building out the ecosystem: developing software (wallets), hardware (mining equipment), and infrastructure (exchanges) to enable Bitcoin’s use as a technology for trade.
At the time, Bitcoin’s role as a payment system was often the central focus, and the Lightning Network, as a second-layer solution, helped push that vision forward.
Already in 2017, and even more so after 2020, actors from traditional finance began entering the space, particularly bond traders and other investors with a deep understanding of the fiat system.
Many recognized its structural flaws and saw Bitcoin as a potential solution, while others were simply in search of a “good trade”. Some became Bitcoin maximalists; others entered through Bitcoin but eventually shifted toward the broader crypto space.
This grassroots evolution has now brought us into a new phase: corporate Bitcoin adoption.
Corporate Bitcoin Adoption
At first, it can seem frustrating to see today’s newcomers appear uninterested in the cypherpunk ethos or libertarian spirit that originally shaped Bitcoin. But this shift reflects a deeper economic reality: currency no longer represents the bulk of the world’s money.
That role has been overtaken by asset classes like real estate ($330 trillion), bonds ($300 trillion), equities ($150 trillion), and art ($18 trillion), among others, all serving as stores of value. Yet the store-of-value function is fundamental to a money’s acceptance in trade. After all, who would willingly accept a form of money that is expected to lose value over time?
From this perspective, Bitcoin’s current path is both logical and positive. Asset classes like government bonds and property, which have served as monetary substitutes, will be demonetized, and replaced by bitcoin.
The legacy financial infrastructure is not natively compatible with the Bitcoin network, which is decentralized, open, and permissionless. As a result, legacy financial products will increasingly integrate and be exposed to bitcoin, not to reinvent the system overnight, but to gradually harden existing structures (see $STRK & $STRF).
Over time, this process will lead to bitcoin establishing itself as the monetary singularity, setting a new global monetary standard. In a future newsletter, I’ll explore the various financial products already being shaped by this quiet but profound integration.
This ongoing shift reveals the fragility of today’s so-called stores of value and offers the global economy a rare opportunity to build resilience in the face of rampant fiat inflation.
Rather than being a betrayal of Bitcoin’s roots, this stage of adoption could mark the beginning of a broader monetary reset, one in which bitcoin gradually assumes its role as the foundation of a new monetary standard.
Sound Money is a Savings Technology
Bitcoin serves as a reminder of what sound money truly is. But regaining this understanding will take time. It’s a gradual, generational shift. From my perspective, that’s okay. In the past, rapid technological progress has often led to unintended consequences. Many breakthrough technologies were used for destruction, like nuclear weapons, instead of being harnessed for well-being and abundance, such as using nuclear fission for energy generation.
Bitcoin invites us to question our ideals and, as a species, begin asking deeper questions:
What is money? What is value? How do we store productivity?
Eventually, we’ll have to face an even more profound question:
Once we understand how to store value, how should we use and exchange it?
Bitcoin Adoption is Happening Through Economically Rational Means
Most people who understand bitcoin’s long-term value won’t give up the majority of their holdings, unless they receive something in return that they value even more.
This is reflected in rising HODL rates: Bitcoin is being held for increasingly longer periods as it continues to monetize rapidly in response to persistent fiat inflation.
As people recognize bitcoin’s value as collateral in an era of rising fiat inflation, two behaviors emerge: (1) they borrow inflationary fiat to buy bitcoin, and (2) they leverage existing bitcoin holdings to obtain fiat, either for spending or to purchase more bitcoin.
This dynamic is likely to continue as long as it remains economically advantageous, that is, as long as fiat currencies exist alongside bitcoin, which continues to appreciate in purchasing power faster than the interest paid on fiat-denominated loans.
If fiat interest rates were ever raised high enough to match or exceed bitcoin’s long-term compound annual growth rate, which has historically exceeded 50% over a 10-year period, it would render most fiat-based economies insolvent almost instantly.
The cost of servicing debt would skyrocket, requiring vast amounts of new money creation, which in turn would accelerate inflation and further erode trust in the currency.
Bitcoin is Pristine Collateral For Lending
Good money, money that maintains or appreciates in purchasing power over time, also makes excellent collateral, because such money is reliable, highly liquid, and reduces the lender’s risk.
Because bitcoin, being near-perfect money, also makes excellent collateral, economic actors, especially companies operating within the inflationary fiat system and carrying high debt ratios, are incentivized to spend as little bitcoin as possible.
Instead, they prefer to hold it as collateral and borrow fiat against it to acquire even more bitcoin. This aligns closely with what Pierre Rochard outlined in 2014 as the concept of a speculative attack. For example, at Strategy, bitcoin functions as collateral. A rise in bitcoin’s value leads to a higher stock price, which in turn allows the company to raise more capital to buy more bitcoin (read my newsletter on this flywheel strategy). In this way, bitcoin becomes a tool for recapitalization.
The speculative attack on fiat, aimed at accumulating bitcoin, is unfolding with bitcoin itself being used as collateral. That’s a fascinating development, one I hadn’t foreseen myself, because I, too, had a somewhat distorted understanding of money.
Bitcoin is Money
Bitcoin is money, and debating how it must be used is pointless, because its use is entirely voluntary. That’s the essence of it: good money doesn’t require laws or government enforcement to function. It exists independently and finds demand on its own terms.
As money, bitcoin naturally gains traction where it’s needed most, particularly as a peer-to-peer electronic cash system in communities that previously had little or no access to traditional payment rails.
In the industrialized world, where payment infrastructure generally functions well, bitcoin is being adopted differently: it is gradually replacing asset classes like bonds, real estate, art, and, partially, equities, especially index funds, which have taken on the role of store of value since fiat money lost that function through continuous debasement.
Since the industrialized world holds the majority of global capital, this form of adoption is currently the most visible, and will ultimately help drive broader global adoption of Bitcoin.
The first jurisdictions, such as the U.S. state Missouri following El Salvador’s lead are beginning to remove capital gains taxes on bitcoin. Eliminating these taxes not only supports its role as a treasury asset but also paves the way for individuals to use bitcoin for payments, whether On-chain, via the Lightning Network or through e-cash systems backed by bitcoin.
As corporate adoption increases, bitcoin will become more practical as a medium of exchange for those who choose to spend it. And as more people experience its reliability as a store of value, the case for recognizing bitcoin as money will only grow stronger.
Bitcoin Doesn’t Need Governments, Governments Need Bitcoin
If there had ever been a law capable of stopping Bitcoin, it would have already failed. Laws and regulations can’t kill Bitcoin, but they can make its use and development more difficult.
The adoption of bitcoin as a treasury asset acts as a wedge in the door of global finance, one with the potential to accelerate adoption so rapidly that it gives cypherpunks and developers, who remain the heart of Bitcoin, the time and space they need to keep building in peace.
The focus has now shifted away from fears about the Bitcoin community and toward its advantages, especially as a form of digital capital in the face of soaring fiat inflation. In this slipstream, the community can continue building.
Corporate adoption will push open, freedom-oriented jurisdictions to embrace Bitcoin more readily, recognizing its value as a disinflationary asset that can hedge against fiat inflation and help stabilize economies. This shift could make life easier for all Bitcoiners, including those who want to use it for spending, not just saving.
Over time, it will lead to tax advantages or even full exemptions after a certain holding period, similar to real estate in many countries. Governments that wish to keep businesses solvent and economies functioning will have an incentive to treat bitcoin more like money.
Eventually, bitcoin will be regulated as money, with gains in purchasing power no longer taxed, a logical step, since taxing price appreciation hinders its practical use.
Imagine a company earning and holding 100% of its reserves in bitcoin: if it sells a product today and uses the proceeds tomorrow without converting to fiat, it would still owe tax on the gain if bitcoin appreciated, making it impractical as a medium of exchange.
How Bitcoin Treasury Companies Strengthen the Network Effect
Another interesting thing about bitcoin treasury companies is that they represent a form of levered exposure to bitcoin that helps Bitcoin's network effect. In past cycles, those seeking higher returns often turned to altcoins, which support a competing network effect vs. Bitcoin.
The Risks Of Corporate Bitcoin Adoption
Corporate adoption of Bitcoin offers major benefits, but also introduces risks, especially around custodianship.
If too many companies rely on the same provider, it creates dangerous concentration risk. Most adoption remains U.S.-centric, though shifting regulations may soon prompt broader global participation.
There’s also political risk: a company based in Germany or France could suddenly face restrictive or authoritarian policies, such as a Bitcoin ban. Firms seek regulatory certainty, and holding large amounts of bitcoin with a custodian can expose them to serious legal and geopolitical challenges.
While corporations are incentivized to accumulate bitcoin fast especially while it remains relatively cheap, robust, decentralized custody infrastructure is essential for long-term resilience.
Encouragingly, unlike during the Block Wars, today’s Bitcoin corporates mostly respect the open-source process, focusing on building around Bitcoin rather than trying to control it.
Conclusion: Hyperbitcoinization?!
The adoption of Bitcoin is multifaceted. The ultimate endgame of this development could be Hyperbitcoinization, a voluntary transition in which bitcoin supplants most forms of money.
This shift will occur due to the ongoing and increased demand for bitcoin, driven by its limited supply, predictable issuance, and ease of use. While many have anticipated a sudden Hyperbitcoinization, I foresee a more gradual transition, which I would characterize as 'Bitcoinization,' unfolding in various stages and at differing speeds.
We are in the midst of it. Over time, the relevance of other forms of money, including frequently used treasury assets like bonds, real estate and art, will diminish as bitcoin’s superior monetary properties become more widely recognized and adopted.
Any company that does not maintain a bitcoin treasury will be outcompeted by those that do, as access to strategically aligned capital will favor Bitcoin-native balance sheets.
Over time, Bitcoin is expected to steadily evolve into the dominant global monetary base layer, supplementing other forms of money, ultimately serving as the global settlement layer, with bitcoin being used as the primary form of money.
It seems that people learn either through suffering or through insight. Bitcoin-backed financial products make it possible to learn through insight, instead of the system having to collapse and people having to learn through suffering.
WORTH TO KNOW
Podcast and publications
Stephan Livera – Superior Store of Value: Bitcoin vs Real Estate with Leon Wankum
I joined Stephan Livera to discuss my journey from studying philosophy to becoming a property developer and Bitcoiner. We discussed the intersection of real estate and Bitcoin, the impact of the fiat system on property prices, and the social consequences of property investment. We discussed the potential benefits of incorporating Bitcoin into investment portfolios, and the future implications for real estate if Bitcoin is not adopted. WATCH
Swiss Bitcoin Conference - Why Bitcoin complements real estate
As part of the Swiss Bitcoin Conference, I gave a presentation (in German) titled "Digital and Physical Assets: Why Bitcoin Complements Real Estate, Rather Than Replacing It" during the Asset Manager & Family Office Symposium, a small side event with a selected group of guests. The content of these slides was specifically designed for wealth and asset managers, whether they are new to Bitcoin or already familiar and seeking strategies to integrate it into the structures they know and work with. SLIDES
Incentives Rewired: Bitcoin’s Role in Reshaping Real Estate
Together with Kelly Lannan (
Navigating the Shift from Real Estate to Bitcoin - Leon Wankum
I’ve uploaded the slides from my recent presentation in Toronto to my website. You'll also find my two presentations from last year, which are already available. Over the next couple of months, I’ll be reorganizing and expanding my personal website to offer a better learning experience and to make my writings from the past ten years accessible.
FIND THE SLIDES ON MY WEBSITE | WATCH THE PRESENTATION
IDEAS OF INTEREST
Strategy World Favorites
Michael Saylor & Phong Le – The Transformative Power of AI + BTC
A highly insightful conversation between Strategy CEO Phong Le and Executive Chairman Michael Saylor. One of the most fascinating takeaways: Saylor designed $STRK and $STRF with the help of AI. WATCH
Michael Saylor – Bitcoin for Corporations 2025 Keynote
As always, Saylor delivered a strong and clear case for corporate Bitcoin adoption. WATCH
Phong Le – Bitcoin for Corporations 2025 Keynote
Phong Le, CEO of Strategy, remains underrated. His take on bitcoin as a treasury asset from the perspective of a software intelligence executive is refreshingly practical, no theoretical fluff. WATCH
The Bitcoin Effect: Simon Gerovich at Bitcoin for Corporations 2025
Beyond Strategy, Metaplanet is one of the most interesting Bitcoin treasury companies. Their pivot from physical real estate to “digital real estate” resonates deeply. Add in a focused treasury strategy, sharp execution, and growing retail interest, this feels like the early days of Strategy. In terms of investor sentiment. WATCH
Metaplanet Madness: Episode 1
Strategy laid the blueprint: retail matters. Two active members of the Strategy retail community, Peter Duan and Climb That Ladder, launched a podcast focused on Metaplanet. Worth a listen if you're tracking retail momentum in Bitcoin treasury plays. WATCH
The Bitcoin Case: Chris Kuiper at Bitcoin for Corporations 2025
Fidelity doesn’t make bold claims lightly, but Chris Kuiper does back them with numbers. As VP of Research at Fidelity Digital Assets, Kuiper lays out the clearest institutional case for Bitcoin to date. From Sharpe to Sortino to ROIC, the message is loud: Bitcoin is no longer speculative, it's superior. Treasuries and bonds can’t compete. For corporates still sitting on the sidelines, this isn’t just a wake-up call. It’s the playbook. WATCH
If you want to support me. Feel free. You can send me some satoshi/bitcoin.
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Resources
Leon Wankum - The Strategy Playbook: Lessons for Real Estate Entrepreneurs READ
Lan Ju, Timothy (Jun) Lu, Zhiyong Tu - Capital Flight and Bitcoin Regulation READ
Bitcoin Magazine Pro - Bitcoin: 1+ Year HODL Wave VISIT
bitcoincompounding.com - Bitcoin Historic CAGR READ
Erik Cason - Bitcoin is The Political with Erik Cason WATCH
What Bitcoin Did - Bitcoin Philosophy with Gigi WATCH
Jesse Myers - Bitcoin’s Full Potential READ
Pierre Rochard - Speculative Attack READ
Daniel Krawisz – Hyperbitcoinization READ
Photo Credit: Walker (@WalkerAmerica)
Disclaimer: the content is for informational purposes only, you should not construe any such information or other material as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. Make sure you do your own research before making any investment and be aware of your own risk tolerance. If you like to build on my thoughts, feel free, but please cite me as the source. 2025 - Leon Wankum.
Editing and content creation by Clemens Haidinger.
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