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Fun fact: the only countries that own more bitcoin than the UK are the US (which own 207,000) and China (194,000). The UK has 61,000 bitcoin - worth almost $6 billion.

They are mostly seized bitcoin, a lucky legacy from the early days when the UK was at the heart of bitcoin’s evolution. (Remember Satoshi Nakamoto wrote in British English, the Times was referenced in the Genesis block, and many of the early conferences and meet-ups happened here). The FCA, in its wisdom, put a stop to all that, and so we fell behind.

The stupidest thing our Chancellor can do, even with the parlous state of the national finances, is to sell those bitcoin. History would look back on her as an even greater fool than Gordon Brown for selling the national gold.

This legacy has given the UK an extraordinary advantage in the global arms race that is bitcoin adoption. We would be mad to spurn it.

Meanwhile, something extraordinary is taking place in the corporate world of bitcoin adoption, and I think it is going to accelerate rapidly very soon.

It is being spearheaded by Michael Saylor, Chairman and Founder of Strategy (NASDAQ:MSTR).

I recommended MicroStrategy, as it used to be called, to readers back in August 2023, largely because it was a means to get bitcoin exposure via your broker. You wouldn’t have to jump through all the hoops of buying bitcoin through exchanges, which the FCA has made so difficult.

It has been a big win for readers, having more than 12x’d since we tipped it, outperforming bitcoin by a considerable margin. (Bear in mind it has undergone a 10-for-1 stock split since that article.)

You really should upgrade your subscription :)

Strategy now has some 555,450 bitcoin, meaning it has more bitcoin than any other publicly traded company in the world (excluding the ETFs, which now hold 1.35 million). Note again: there will only ever be 21 million bitcoins - rather less if you discount the 2.5 million that have likely been lost, and the 1.3 million that Satoshi never touched and probably never will).

Saylor is also the world’s most articulate and charismatic proponent of bitcoin. The man is a genius, and I do not use that word lightly.

He has turned Strategy from a quiet, business intelligence software firm, which traded sideways for 20 years with a market cap less than $2 billion, into one of the most talked-about and traded stocks in North America with a market cap north of $100 billion. Options traders love it.

His method for doing so - extraordinarily bold at the time, though now it looks easy - was brilliantly simple. He bought bitcoin. He was worried about the erosion of the value of the corporate treasury due to inflation and currency debasement. he started slowly. Then, in buying bitcoin and using it, as tends to happen, he caught the bitcoin bug. He started issuing paper - stock, debt, convertible notes - and bought more bitcoin. Just last week he bought another 1,895 bitcoin, funding the purchase with sales of common and preferred stock.

In effect, he is creating money out of (almost) nothing and using it to buy the hardest money in the history of mankind. (Sorry, goldbugs - and you know I’m on your team - but bitcoin is harder money, because the supply is more finite).

In doing so, he has enabled many of his investors to retire early.

But he has also