Reads: Saylor's Selling Shares. We're Selling Freedom.

Reads 7: Michael Saylor Vs Bitcoin Well 

In this episode of Reads on the Bitcoin Well, Zach dives into two powerful blog posts that challenge the current state of Bitcoin adoption and reclaim the meaning of financial sovereignty. 

Blog 1: Bitcoin Doesn't Need Another Michael Saylor This piece by Conrad Fitzpatrick argues that while Michael Saylor was the hero we needed for institutional acceptance, his "Treasury Playbook" has led to a massive rise in "captured" Bitcoin held by third parties. As individual wallet addresses drop, we explore the need for a new type of influencer—Mitchell Mailer—who inspires everyday people to take their Bitcoin into self-custody. 

Blog 2: We’re Not Selling Bitcoin, We’re Selling Freedom Chantel LilyCrop explains the fundamental mission of Bitcoin Well: why we refuse to custody your Bitcoin. Through the story of a high-net-worth client choosing self-custody, we break down why institutional "promises" are just the legacy system in a new mask. Reclaiming your keys is the first domino in a bigger awakening about what true ownership actually means. 

Stop asking for permission to access your own wealth. Learn how to transition from institutional dependence to true financial independence. 

00:00 Intro & Week Recap 

02:32 Bitcoin Doesn't Need Another Michael Saylor 

03:35 What Saylor Got Right 

05:02 What Saylor Got Wrong 

05:37 Lessons from Wall Street Bets, NFTs & DeFi 

06:26 Enter Mitchell Mailer 

07:10 We're Not Selling Bitcoin, We're Selling Freedom 

07:44 A Client Who Gets It 

09:13 Why We Don't Hold Your Keys 

09:59 What Self-Custody Does to You 

11:01 Freedom Isn't Easy 

11:16 Bitcoin Well's Mission 

#SelfSovereignty #BitcoinWealth #FinancialIndependence #MichaelSaylor #BitcoinWell 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Hello, hello, hello. This is Zach, and you are listening to Reads on the Bitcoin Well podcast channel. I hope everyone has had a great week. We've been putting out some incredible content, and I'm so excited to be working on something that I love every day, which is spreading the good word about Bitcoin. We just recorded an amazing webinar yesterday with Matthew Wuk of Second that is building on the ARC protocol, which is working to improve lightning and simplify cheap and easy payments using Bitcoin. Very cool stuff, and I suggest you check it out on our YouTube page at youtube.com slash at Bitcoinwell, where you can also find uh video versions of all of our podcasts if you're so inclined. Also, I guess I don't always need to mention the price, but as I record this on Friday morning, Bitcoin is pushing above 72k and looking very good right now. But let's move on to the subject of this episode, which is actually a special two for one. I'll be reading through a funny and insightful blog about how Michael Saylor might not be the best thing for Bitcoin. You know Michael Saylor of MicroStrategy, and how we might need someone that's more for the people and self-sovereignty. Someone named Mitchell Mailer. Hypothetical human, someone hypothetically named Mitchell Mailer. You'll have to listen to know what I mean. And then we have a great article that gets to the philosophical heart of Bitcoin well. That our primary goal isn't to make money off of you, it's to help you become more free and independent using the best tool for the job, Bitcoin. So stick around and enjoy some mental exploration. And if you enjoy or don't enjoy this content, please email me at z.adare at gmail.com. That's z.adair at gmail.com. And I promise to answer your questions or concerns or praise. If you want to send me praise, I'll take it. Everyone, uh, have a great day and weekend and week, and I'll catch you on the flip side. Bitcoin doesn't need another Michael Saylor, it needs someone else. By Conrad Fitzpatrick. Five years ago, Michael Saylor was heralded by many as the best thing for Bitcoin. As the premier Bitcoin influencer of the last half decade, he heightened mainstream acceptance, understanding, and accessibility. However, the purchase pattern of Bitcoin is changing and arguably in the wrong direction. While corporate treasuries have accumulated over 1 million Bitcoin, the number of individual Bitcoin wallets with balances has fallen by nearly 50%. We need someone as influential as Michael Saylor, but for a different cohort. I call this hypothetical new influencer Mitchell Maylor, and here's how he will take Bitcoin adoption to the next level. First, a quick recap. In 2020, Michael Saylor transformed the Bitcoin conversation. Since then, he has impacted the space in three main ways. First, the perspective shift. Saylor helped many understand why Bitcoin is useful and valuable. He focused on preserving capital over long periods, the failability of custodians, and Bitcoin's Kager or compound annual growth rate becoming the new capital benchmark. He famously described cash as a melting ice cube while Bitcoin's scarcity is imperishable. Second, he focused on widespread access. By purchasing a massive amount of Bitcoin, MicroStrategy evolved from a software company into a Bitcoin instrument. This allowed investors to gain exposure through traditional stockbrokers and tax-advantaged accounts, arguably paving the way for the Bitcoin ETFs that dominated in 2024 and 2025. And lastly, the Treasury playbook. Saylor executed a speculative attack on the US dollar by purchasing Bitcoin via cheap credit and convertible loans. As the price of Bitcoin rises, the stock follows, increasing the company's ability to repeat the cycle. Despite his success, Saylor's approach has created new challenges. MicroStrategies Bitcoin is held in third-party custody, creating a massive honeypot risk. His shareholders miss out on the sovereignty benefit of self-custody. MicroStrategies Bitcoin is often purchased over the counter, which doesn't immediately impact public order books or drive number go-up marketing. And lastly, less Bitcoin is ending up in the hands of normies, or the everyday people who need it most to protect against hyperinflation and asset seizures. During Sailors' Rise, three other financial waves showed how influence can capture the social consciousness. First, there was Wall Street Bets. It showed that everyday folks could leverage group purchasing power to topple hedge fund positions. Second, there were the NFTs. They proved that people could be influenced to value digital scarcity, even if the underlying assets were questionable. And lastly, there was DeFi or Decentralized Finance. It attracted users through the high yields and unit bias, the psychological appeal of owning millions of low-price tokens. Many people mistakenly think Bitcoin is too expensive because they don't realize they can buy thousands of Satoshis for just$100. This hypothetical influencer, Mitchell Mailer, will take these lessons from Wall Street Bets, NFTs, and DeFi and apply them to the Millennial, Gen Z, and Gen Alpha cohorts. While Saylor convinced the financially savvy to buy MicroStrategy and ETFs, Mitchell Mailer will influence everyday people to pull their Bitcoin into self-custody. He understands that while the elites are accumulating Bitcoin, they don't need it as desperately as the middle class does. By packaging the idea of Bitcoin in a receptive, modern way, Mailer will usher in a new wave of true sovereign adoption. We're not selling Bitcoin, we're selling freedom by Chantel Lillycropp. People ask me all the time, why don't you make it easier for customers and just custody the Bitcoin you sell them? It's a fair question. Most financial institutions would kill for the opportunity to hold your assets. Custody means control. Control means fees, and fees means revenue. But this week, I was reminded exactly why we don't take that path and why we never will. I sat down with a brand new Bitcoin Well Infinite client recently. She's the kind of person who's used to having teams manage her wealth. Advisors, accountants, fund managers, the whole setup. First-time Bitcoin buyer, but she was going big. The kind of transaction where you can't afford to mess up. I walked her through her options. She could use a collaborative custody model which eliminates institutional risk while still having expert support whenever she needed it. Or she could go full self-custody and have complete sovereignty over her wealth. She didn't even pause. Quote, Bitcoin represents something more than a store of value to me. It represents taking control back into my own hands. I want to learn how to do this the right way. I want to take self-custody, she said. That's it. That's our entire mission in one sentence. Here's the truth. At Bitcoin Well and Bitcoin Well Infinite, we're not selling Bitcoin. We're selling freedom. If we had custody of your Bitcoin, you wouldn't own Bitcoin. You would own a promise. You would be right back where you started, trusting someone else with your wealth, asking permission to access what's yours, hoping the institution doesn't fail or freeze your funds. We've all seen what happens when institutions hold your money, banks collapse, accounts get frozen, governments seize assets, and you're left waiting, hoping, trusting that someone will do the right thing with your wealth. Bitcoin was created to solve exactly this problem. Why would you recreate it? Here's what most people don't realize. When you truly take self-custody of your own money, something changes in you. You start to unlearn everything you've been taught. You realize you don't need a bank to hold your wealth, you don't need an institution's permission to send money across borders, you don't need to explain to anyone why you're making a transaction or justify where your money is going. You start questioning other things you've just accepted. Why do I need someone else's approval for this? Why have I outsourced this responsibility? What other freedoms have I traded away because it was convenient? Who else am I trusting unnecessarily? Self-custody isn't just about holding your own keys, it's about reclaiming your sovereignty. It's the first domino in a much bigger awakening about what ownership actually means. That client I mentioned, she gets it. She understands that the difficulty is the point. Education and responsibility aren't barriers, they're the price of freedom. Is self-custody harder than letting a third party hold your wealth for you? Yeah, it is. Does it require learning, discipline, and unlearning decades of financial conditioning? Absolutely. Does it mean taking responsibility for your own security, your own backups, your own decisions? Without question. But freedom has never been easy, and it's always been worth it. We could make more money by holding your Bitcoin. We could build a bigger business by becoming your custodian. We could take the easy path that every other financial institution has taken. But we won't, because we measure success differently. We measure it by how many people we help achieve true financial sovereignty, by how many people we guide from dependence to independence, by how many people reclaim control over their own wealth. We're not here to be your custodian, we're here to be your guide to financial sovereignty. We'll teach you how to secure your Bitcoin properly, we'll walk you through every step of the self-custody process. We'll answer your questions and support you along the way. We'll help you understand the tools, the best practices, the security measures that matter. But we will never hold your keys for you. Because the moment we do, you're no longer free. When you work with Bitcoin Well Infinite, you have options. Collaborative custody solutions that remove institutional risk while maintaining support. Educational resources to learn self custody the right way. Expert guidance whenever you need it. What you won't have is us making the choice for you or taking the easy path on your behalf. Because freedom isn't something we can give you, it's something you have to claim for yourself, and we're here to show you how.