Could Michael Saylor Become the World's Richest Person by Having the U.S. Government Buy 5-25% of All Bitcoins?

The audacity of the proposal — essentially positioning a nation-state as a major Bitcoin whale

The suggestion by Michael Saylor, the cofounder of Strategy and a prominent figure in the Bitcoin community, that the United States should aim to acquire between 5% and 25% of the total Bitcoin (BTC) supply has sparked a lot of discussion.

The audacity of the proposal — essentially positioning a nation-state as a major Bitcoin whale — has led some, like John Deaton, a legal expert and XRP holder in the high-profile SEC v. Ripple case to speculate on the implications.

"If the U.S. were to acquire 5%-25% of the total Bitcoin supply, as Michael Saylor suggests, it could be interesting to see what happens to the price of BTC. Also, wouldn't this make Saylor the richest person in the world?"

Right now, Saylor has a net worth of $7.3 billion, which puts him at number 439 on Forbes' list of the world's richest. But the company he cofounded, Strategy, already has a huge 499,226 BTC, which is about $41.65 billion at Bitcoin's current price of $82,000. Its market cap is $73.7 billion.

If Saylor or the U.S. — or maybe even both — got their hands on 25% of all Bitcoin, they would be sitting on a massive 5.25 million BTC.

What will happen with the flagship cryptocurrency's price is anyone's guess. That kind of wealth would send Saylor's net worth soaring way beyond Elon Musk's, who is currently sitting at the top of the list with a net worth of $321.4 billion.

"I feel like this is a joke but it's not. People are really discussing this. Slice of pizza in 20 years' time will set you back $1,848,768 at least if we're lucky and they don't use all the BTC on government spending and hyperinflate the dollar instead," one user commented.

"This is the best-case scenario where they use the BTC to pay down debt and become good stewards of the coins and don't hyperinflate the dollar and manage the coins poorly."

Another user joked: "They'll probably use it to buy more fiat and then we'll be able to buy the whole pizza for 0.01 BTC."

Deaton's comments blend skepticism with intrigue, but the big question is: can anyone or any nation really get their hands on such a huge chunk of a decentralized asset that is meant to resist concentrated power?