Michael Saylor, co-founder and executive chairman of Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), has laid out a framework of five digital asset rights that he says would underpin an artificial-intelligence-driven economy, pairing faster capital formation with wider financial access for individuals and companies alike.

Digital asset rights formed the centerpiece of Saylor's policy remarks at the Freedom Tech DC summit hosted by the Bitcoin Policy Institute, a nonprofit think tank, where he spoke with Conner Brown about five core freedoms: the right to create, issue, custody, transfer, and use digital assets. A more productive economy driven by artificial intelligence, he argued, needs better money and better capital markets — with growth in financial access matching growth in AI output.

Five Freedoms Anchor the Policy Framework

Saylor's proposal rests on treating digital asset rights as belonging to both individuals and corporations. “Freedom starts with the ability to act,” Saylor said.

The five freedoms he identified are:

• The right to create digital assets
• The right to issue digital assets
• The right to custody digital assets
• The right to transfer digital assets
• The right to use digital assets

Each serves a distinct purpose, Saylor said, ranging from creating new financial instruments to spending and borrowing against existing holdings.

The framework also calls for financing structures that support new business formation. Saylor set a goal of enabling 10 million new companies to raise capital through digital tokens.

— Michael Saylor (@saylor) September 26, 2026

He described current issuance rules as too costly and complex for entrepreneurs without extensive legal resources. Lowering that cost, he said, would let more founders reach investors directly.

Competition among digital dollar providers formed another part of the discussion. Saylor said banks, fintech companies, and technology platforms should have a clear path to offer dollar-backed digital products, a category that includes stablecoins. He also argued that issuers should be permitted to compete on yield, saying restrictions that favor institutions paying little interest work against customers.

Bitcoin's integration into banking and insurance drew separate attention. Saylor called for banks to custody Bitcoin and extend credit against it. He pointed to the Basel framework's capital treatment of cryptoasset exposures as an area needing review, saying rules should reflect actual risk. The Basel framework, issued by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, sets the international capital standards that national regulators implement for banks.

Privacy, Compliance, and Regulatory Priorities

Saylor also addressed compliance, privacy, and tax priorities. On financial privacy, he proposed that lawful transactions below a meaningful threshold should not trigger routine reporting requirements, citing the $10,000 currency-transaction threshold set in 1972 as an example that needs inflation adjustment. That threshold still governs when financial institutions must file currency-transaction reports with federal authorities, more than five decades after it was set.

Portable compliance credentials also appeared as a policy recommendation. Saylor described repeated identity verification across financial counterparties as costly and inefficient for investors. He suggested reusable, interoperable credentials could reduce onboarding costs while preserving provider responsibility for monitoring risk. Lower costs, he added, would help new firms compete for customers.

Tax treatment of everyday digital asset spending was another focus area. Saylor argued that a meaningful de minimis exemption would remove the burden of calculating gains on routine purchases. Under current IRS guidance treating digital assets as property, spending them is a disposition that can trigger gain-or-loss calculations even on small purchases. He said thresholds should scale with inflation and eliminate needless transaction-by-transaction recordkeeping.

On regulatory strategy, Saylor pointed to the SEC, CFTC, Treasury, and the White House as the near-term path. He criticized the CLARITY approach for emphasizing restrictions over usefulness. Saylor projected that the digital asset industry could reach $100 trillion in value if policy expands rather than limits ownership rights. Translating any of these proposals into binding rules would run through the agencies' rulemaking processes, which typically include proposed rules and public comment periods.

Source: Blockonomi