Most Influential: Michael Saylor

Finance Share Share this article Copy link X icon X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook Email Most Influential: Michael Saylor Despite facing a year of tough conditions for bitcoin treasury companies, Michael Saylor’s Strategy developed new ways to make money — and acquire more bitcoin for its vast holdings — in 2025. By James Van Straten | Edited by Cheyenne Ligon Dec 12, 2025, 3:00 p.m. Last year, Michael Saylor, executive chairman of Strategy (MSTR), stood among the most influential figures in the bitcoin ecosystem. His company’s stock surged fivefold, even as U.S. bitcoin ETFs entered the market. The story in 2025, however, has been markedly different. MSTR has struggled to replicate the prior year’s extraordinary gains, with shares now negative year-to-date. This underperformance reflects a mix of internal and external pressures, including bitcoin’s volatility compression and the introduction of options on U.S. spot ETFs, which have given investors alternative exposure routes. These factors have led to a significant contraction in MSTR’s multiple to net asset value (mNAV). STORY CONTINUES BELOW Don't miss another story. Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today . See all newsletters Sign me up By signing up, you will receive emails about CoinDesk products and you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . In response, Strategy launched four perpetual preferred products in 2025—STRK, STRF, STRD, and STRC—raising $4.6 billion in gross proceeds from IPOs. Three of these have already delivered strong double-digit returns, providing a non-dilutive mechanism for MSTR to expand its bitcoin holdings. The company has also extended its preferred share program internationally in Europe, with a Euro-denominated preferred stock, Stream . Michael Saylor MicroStrategy Strategy CoinDesk Most Influential 2025 More For You Protocol Research: GoPlus Security By CoinDesk Research Nov 14, 2025 Commissioned by GoPlus What to know : As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M. GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month. Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B. View Full Report More For You Most Influential: Changpeng “CZ” Zhao By Oliver Knight | Edited by Cheyenne Ligon 2 minutes ago Zhao’s exit from Binance did little to dim his prominence. Read full story Latest Crypto News Most Influential: Changpeng “CZ” Zhao 2 minutes ago Most Influential: Jesse Pollak 2 minutes ago Most Influential: David Bailey 2 minutes ago Backed, Chainlink Unveil xBridge to Move Tokenized Stocks Between Solana and Ethereum 2 minutes ago UAE’s Largest Fuel Retailer Will Accept Stablecoin in 980 Stations in Three Countries 18 minutes ago Polish Government Urges President to Sign Crypto Bill He Already Rejected: Report 38 minutes ago Top Stories U.S. SEC Gives Implicit Nod for Tokenized Stocks 2 hours ago YouTube Now Allows U.S. Content Creators to Get Paid in PayPal’s Stablecoin: Fortune 2 hours ago Crypto Markets Today: Bitcoin Stuck in Post-Fed Range as Altcoins Slump Deepens 3 hours ago XRP Lands on Solana, Ethereum and Others, in Boost for Ripple Ecosystem 10 hours ago Bitcoin's Volatility Meltdown: Crypto Daybook Americas 2 hours ago XRP Ledger Upgrade Lays Groundwork for Lending, Tokenization Expansion 3 hours ago