Bitcoin’s future depends on people, not governments, experts say

Bitcoin’s long-term success is still being questioned to date.

Anthony Pompliano discussed it alongside the CEO of Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy, Phong Le, and David Bailey, who is the CEO and chairman of KindlyMD, at Bitcoin Investor Week in New York.

They outlined what Bitcoin [BTC] needed to succeed and projected the potential outcomes for the rapidly rising narrative of Bitcoin Digital Asset Treasuries (DATs). Still, their long-term views remained optimistic.

Strategy’s three phases of buying BTC

Looking at Strategy [MSTR], which is the first BTC public holding company, it played a considerable role in graduating the crypto into Wall Street and traditional finance.

First, Strategy invested about $600 million in BTC. In the second phase, MSTR leveled up with the leverage coming primarily through convertible notes, which hit $12 billion.

However, the CEO said the move was not right for the long term.

Its latest phase was in 2025, when they raised $7 billion as they became a digital credit company issuing perpetual preferreds, which are equity instruments.

For instance, Stretch (STRC) traded on Nasdaq with an average volume of $150 million per day.

Regarding this, Phong Le said,

These products were accelerating BTC adoption as they shielded BTC investors who cannot stomach its volatility but wanted BTC’s underlying returns.

The CEO still recommended that those who wanted to buy BTC needed to have a long duration, like 4 to 5 years or so. Asked when they were selling their Bitcoins, Phong said,

What Bitcoin needs to be successful

The question of Bitcoin’s long-term success depended on the people rather than the government itself. In regard to this, David Bailey was bullish on Bitcoin, saying,

The governments have seen it in their best interest to work with Bitcoin. For instance, the U.S. government moved 0.3346 BTC valued at $22,650, which could just be routine wallet management or testing flows.

Projections on Bitcoin DATs

While both Phong and Bailey agreed it was still early for Bitcoin, their projections for DATs were divided.

In Phong Le’s view, the more DATs there were, the better it was for Bitcoin. Bailey argued that still, these DATs needed inherent strengths like those of Strategy to be successful.

While he noted there was a lot of capital in DATs, Bailey said,

Speaking of consolidation, BTC’s had just broken above the range between $62,960 and $70,900. It was up about 7% in 24 hours, and maintaining this momentum could push the price past $78,800.

Final Summary

• Bitcoin Investor Week captures Strategy’s role in graduating Bitcoin to traditional markets. 
• Bailey says that Bitcoin needs the people and voters to succeed, not the government, but he projects that half of DATs could die in 18 months.