# Is Bitcoin at the beginning of a new bull market

Michael Saylor says Bitcoin is at the start of a bull market, citing clearer regulation and bank adoption. Here is what that means for BTC and Strategy holders.

Source: https://bettilt2025.top/is-bitcoin/ · based on the channel [Bloomberg Tech](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrM7B7SL_g1edFOnmj-SDKg) · Video: [Bitcoin Is at Beginning a Bull Market, Says Strategy's Saylor](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fki9hxwRUfs) · 2026-10-25

![Is Bitcoin at the beginning of a new bull market](https://bettilt2025.top/is-bitcoin/is-bitcoin.webp)

## Key takeaways

- Michael Saylor, founder and executive chairman of Strategy, told Bloomberg that Bitcoin is at the beginning of a bull market.
- His two stated drivers are favorable regulation and accelerating adoption by banks.
- The comments were made at DC Fintech Week in an interview with Bloomberg Crypto.
- Saylor's thesis rests on Bitcoin becoming a regulated, bank-distributed asset rather than a retail speculative trade.
- Skeptics note that calling a bull market while BTC trades well below its prior high is a claim about the future, not the present.

Michael Saylor says Bitcoin is at the beginning of a bull market, not the end of one. The founder and executive chairman of Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) gave that verdict in an interview from DC Fintech Week with Bloomberg Crypto, pointing to two forces: favorable regulation and accelerating adoption by banks. For readers who want the wider technology and markets coverage behind the interview, Bloomberg's technology desk publishes the reporting at [Bloomberg Technology](https://www.bloomberg.com/technology).

Saylor is not a neutral observer. Strategy is the largest corporate holder of bitcoin, so a rising BTC price directly lifts its balance sheet and its equity story. That does not make his argument wrong, but it does mean the claim should be judged on the mechanics he describes, not on the speaker's incentives.

## What Saylor's bull market call actually rests on

The core of Saylor's argument is that Bitcoin's demand base is shifting from retail speculation to regulated financial institutions. Two things drive that shift in his telling:

1. **Regulation.** Clearer rules on custody, trading and token classification remove the legal risk that kept conservative institutions on the sidelines. When the rules are legible, compliance departments can approve products they previously blocked.
2. **Bank adoption.** Banks distributing bitcoin exposure through custody, brokerage and structured products turn BTC into something a wealth-management client can hold inside an existing account, without opening a crypto exchange account.

Both forces work slowly. A bank that decides to offer bitcoin custody typically spends quarters on legal review, vendor selection and risk committees before a single client sees the product. That is precisely why Saylor frames the current moment as a *beginning*: the approvals are happening, but the distribution is not yet built out.

## Why bank distribution changes the demand curve

Bank distribution changes who can buy bitcoin and how much of it they can hold. A pension consultant, an insurance allocator or a private-bank client operates under mandates that often prohibit direct custody of crypto assets. Once a regulated bank wraps bitcoin in a custody or fund structure, those mandates can be satisfied.

The second-order effect matters more than the first purchase. Allocations tend to be set as a small percentage of a large portfolio and then rebalanced over time. A 1% allocation from a $1 billion mandate is $10 million, and rebalancing creates steady, price-insensitive flows rather than one-off retail spikes. That is the mechanism Saylor is describing when he talks about banks accelerating adoption.

## The counterarguments traders keep raising

The most common objection is arithmetic: a bull market is usually declared after a new high, not while bitcoin trades far below its previous peak. A move from roughly $126,000 down to the $57,000 area, as one widely discussed drawdown went, is a bear market by any conventional definition. Calling the low the start of the next bull phase is a forecast, and forecasts can be early by a year or more.

Other recurring doubts:

- **Cycle timing.** Some traders argue bitcoin follows a roughly four-year rhythm tied to halvings and that the bottom and top can be estimated in advance. Saylor's framework is adoption-driven, not cycle-driven, so the two models can disagree for long stretches.
- **Equity divergence.** Strategy's stock has at times sold off on days when bitcoin was strong, which frustrates holders who expect MSTR to track BTC. The gap reflects financing structure, premium to net asset value and index or mandate flows, not a verdict on bitcoin itself.
- **Narrative fatigue.** After a deep drawdown, calls to buy are often met with suspicion, especially when they come from the largest corporate holder. That skepticism is healthy; it forces the argument back to verifiable facts such as regulatory approvals and custody launches.

## What would confirm or break the thesis

Saylor's call becomes measurable through a handful of observable signals rather than price alone:

- New bank custody or trading offerings announced by regulated institutions, especially in the US and Europe.
- Growth in assets held in spot bitcoin vehicles and in corporate treasury holdings.
- Legislative and regulatory clarity on stablecoins and digital-asset classification, which reduces legal uncertainty across the sector.
- Sustained inflows from wealth-management and institutional channels rather than retail exchanges.

If those indicators keep improving while price stays flat, the setup Saylor describes is building. If bank launches stall or regulation reverses, the thesis weakens regardless of what any single executive says.

## Key links from the interview

- Bloomberg Technology coverage: https://www.bloomberg.com/technology
- Bloomberg Technology on X: https://twitter.com/technology
- Bloomberg Technology on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BloombergTechnology
- Bloomberg Business on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bloombergbusiness/
- Ed Ludlow on X: https://twitter.com/EdLudlow

## The bottom line on Saylor's bitcoin call

Saylor's bull market claim is a bet on institutional plumbing, not on a chart pattern. The reasoning is coherent: clearer rules plus bank distribution widen the pool of capital that can legally own bitcoin, and that pool moves slowly but in size. The risk is timing, because regulation and bank rollouts take quarters while markets reprice in days, and a call made well below the prior high can look wrong for a long time before it looks right. Treat the interview as a framework for what to watch, not a signal to act on. The full discussion is available in the Bloomberg Tech breakdown on the channel's YouTube page.

For ongoing coverage of the companies, markets and technology behind this story, visit [Bloomberg Technology](https://www.bloomberg.com/technology).

## Questions & answers

**Is bitcoin really at the beginning of a bull market?**

That is Michael Saylor's assessment, not a settled fact. He argues that clearer regulation and growing bank adoption are opening bitcoin to institutional capital that was previously locked out. Whether that translates into a sustained uptrend depends on how quickly those products launch and how much capital they attract.

**Why does bank adoption matter so much for bitcoin's price?**

Banks let clients hold bitcoin inside existing accounts and satisfy mandates that forbid direct crypto custody. Allocations are usually small percentages of large portfolios and get rebalanced, which produces steadier flows than retail trading. That is the demand shift Saylor points to.

**How can bitcoin be in a bull market when it is still below its old high?**

Saylor is describing the start of a phase, not confirming one already underway. Bull and bear labels are usually applied after the fact, and calling a bottom early is common among long-term holders. Skeptics reasonably argue that a market far below its peak is still in a drawdown until proven otherwise.

**Why does Strategy's stock sometimes fall when bitcoin rises?**

Strategy's equity carries its own variables: debt and financing structure, premium or discount to the value of its bitcoin holdings, and index or mandate-driven flows. Those factors can push the stock in the opposite direction of BTC on any given day, so short-term divergence does not invalidate the long-term thesis.