Michael Saylor emphasized relying on corporate audits under established U.S. laws rather than public blockchain transparency.
Critics like Duo Nine and WhaleWire CEO Jacob King argued that withholding wallet details undermines Bitcoin’s transparency principles.

Strategy Executive Chairman Michael Saylor restated the issue of transparency in the crypto world by keeping the company’s BTC wallet addresses under wraps at the Bitcoin 2025 Conference on May 26. A lot of people in the crypto community expressed disapproval, mainly because they support making reserves visible and proving them on the blockchain.

Strategy’s Michael Saylor Sparks Major Debate on Bitcoin

Saylor justified his refusal by citing security concerns. He stated that revealing the wallet would be equivalent to “publicizing your bank account and your kids’ phone numbers.” During a detailed on-stage explanation, he dismissed common proof-of-reserve practices as fundamentally flawed.

“The current conventional way to publish proof-of-reserves is an insecure proof-of-reserves,” Saylor said. He added,

No institutional-grade or enterprise security analyst would think that publishing wallets is a great idea.

He suggested that institutional investors should depend on existing rules and ask for scrutiny. According to Michael Saylor, revealing information should be part of regular corporate audits, especially those overseen by leading accounting groups and ordered under U.S. laws.

He said that holding records should be reviewed by a Big Four auditor, who must adhere to Sarbanes-Oxley, and failing to disclose facts accurately as an executive can result in criminal liability. It positions MicroStrategy as a compliant public entity operating under these standards.

At present, MicroStrategy holds 580,250 BTC, worth a staggering $63 billion. Despite the big BTC holdings, the company has never released its wallet address. People arguing these points say that withholding such details lowers the value of transparency within Bitcoin.

Duo Nine, the founder of Your Crypto Community, called Saylor’s justification for buying Bitcoin a “huge red flag.” He wrote on X that he did not trust MicroStrategy’s claims, as he noted that Saylor’s “excuse sounds more like he’s buying paper Bitcoin.”

Critic Draws Parallels to Terra Luna Project

Like the Terra Luna project, Saylor is taking big risks by borrowing billions to acquire Bitcoin, Duo warned. He said Saylor is “leverage looping BTC to the tune of billions.” He even warned that eventually, Saylor will either have to “sell Bitcoin or default.”

CEO of WhaleWire, Jacob King, also believed that Bitcoin’s core principles require public disclosure of all wallets. “They’re hiding their wallets because they don’t want the public to see when they offload their bags after luring in retail sheep,” he remarked.

Michael Saylor made it clear that he preferred solutions with top-notch security and ways of operating. He believes that anyone involved in crypto should keep hold of their own crypto. Meanwhile, he suggested that if you work for an institution, you must trust the CFO, CEO, outside directors, outside auditors, and risk managers.

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Filed under: Bitcoin - @ May 28, 2025 12:23 pm