Bitcoin is the Solution to Cybersecurity Threats: Michael Saylor
- Microstrategy exec Michael Saylor believes that crypto and Bitcoin are solutions to cybersecurity threats driven by AI.
- He said that there are billions of fake accounts on social media platforms responsible for waging a “digital war” in society.
- Artificial intelligence and other next-generation technologies will make deepfake cheaper and harder to detect, Saylor believes.
- The solution for deepfake and other digital trust issues lies in decentralized identities (DIDs), said the Bitcoin supporter.
Michael Saylor, the former CEO and Executive Chairman of business software analytics company MicroStrategy, has been a supporter of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin (BTC), for a very long time, and his company holds the record for the most BTC held by a corporate entity. Interestingly, as per Saylor, the leading cryptocurrency is the solution to cybersecurity threats that are driven by artificial intelligence, or AI, such as deepfake, synthetic media that have been digitally manipulated to replace one person’s likeness convincingly with that of another.
In an interview with Kitco News, the avid Bitcoin supporter stated that there are currently billions of fake accounts on social media platforms that are responsible for waging a “digital war” in today’s society, trying to stir hatred among the real users of these platforms. These accounts have been created by robots using automation, a technology that forms the basis of AI.
“The risk in cyberspace is I can spin up a billion fake people, and I can create a civil war by having the fake Republicans hate on the fake Democrats, or the real Democrats. Having the fake Democrats hate on the real Republicans,” Saylor stated.
The MicroStrategy executive noted that artificial intelligence and other next-generation technologies will make deepfaking cheaper and harder to detect. The Bitcoin enthusiast noted that he receives over 2,000 fake followers on social media platform Twitter every day and currently has 3 million followers.
“I literally saw in a matter of one hour, 1500 bot accounts got scrubbed off my account, and they were bots. So, we can no longer live with that status quo,” said Saylor while adding that the solution for deepfake and other digital trust issues lies in decentralized identities (DIDs).
A DID is basically a way to identify humans in the digital world to prevent robotic accounts from wreaking havoc. These are self-owned, independent identities that enable trusted data exchange. “If someone wants to launch a billion Twitter bots, that’s going to cost them a billion transactions […]. By combining the power of cryptography with the power of a decentralized crypto network like Bitcoin, we can bring cost and consequence into cyberspace,” he explained.
Saylor and his company, MicroStrategy, are laser-focused on the Bitcoin network, and as a result, the company sold some of its Class A shares for an aggregate sales proceeds of approximately $500 million to purchase BTC in September last year.
Furthermore, as reported earlier by Bitnation, the company posted a total profit of $94 million in Q1 2023 with $121.9 million in revenue, a 2.2% increase from Q1 2022. Phong Lee, the CEO of MicroStrategy, stated that his company’s “conviction” in Bitcoin is as “strong” as ever, adding that his company “continued to strategically manage our balance sheet through the addition of 7,500 bitcoins in the quarter for a total of 140,000.”
“As of March 31, 2023, the original cost basis and market value of MicroStrategy’s bitcoin were $4.172 billion and $3.986 billion, respectively, which reflects an average cost per bitcoin of approximately $29,803 and a market price per bitcoin of $28,468.44, respectively,” noted the company.
A crypto journalist with over 3 years of experience in DeFi, NFT, metaverse, etc. Parth has worked with major media outlets in the crypto and finance world and has gained experience and expertise in crypto culture after surviving bear and bull markets over the years.
