Michael Saylor, the outspoken Bitcoin evangelist and executive chairman of Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), is urging caution when it comes to the growing trend of institutional proof-of-reserves. Speaking at a Bitcoin 2025 conference side event in Las Vegas on May 26, Saylor warned that the conventional approach of disclosing onchain proof-of-reserves might be doing more harm than good.
When asked by Mitchell Askew of Blockware Solutions whether Strategy would follow suit in making its reserves public, Saylor didn’t offer a direct yes or no. Instead, he issued a strong critique of the current model, describing it as not just ineffective, but potentially dangerous. “It actually dilutes the security of the issuer, the custodians, the exchanges, and the investors,” he argued. “It’s not a good idea, it’s a bad idea.”
Saylor’s comments come amid increasing industry pressure for transparency in the wake of high-profile collapses like FTX and Mt. Gox. In the aftermath of these debacles, many in the crypto space — including top exchanges like Binance, Kraken, and OKX — began releasing proof-of-reserves as a way to restore trust and demonstrate solvency. The idea is to prove that these platforms have enough crypto assets on hand to cover all customer deposits.
But for Saylor, this trend may be misguided, at least when applied to institutional players. His concern lies not in the principle of transparency itself, but in the implementation. Publishing wallet addresses — a standard component of current proof-of-reserve practices — exposes sensitive information that could be used to track financial movements, potentially making institutions more vulnerable to cyberattacks and phishing schemes.
“No institutional-grade or enterprise security analyst would think it’s a good idea to publish all of the wallet addresses,” Saylor emphasized. “You could be traced back and forth.” He suggested asking a powerful AI to list the risks of publicizing wallet information — it would, he claimed, return “50 pages of security problems.”
Moreover, Saylor pointed out a critical flaw in most proof-of-reserve disclosures: they often show what an institution holds, but not what it owes. In other words, they only provide half of the financial picture. Without also sharing liabilities, the true health of a company’s balance sheet remains obscured.
Ironically, despite his vocal opposition to proof-of-reserves, Saylor’s own company is often cited as a benchmark of institutional Bitcoin adoption. Strategy now holds over 576,000 BTC on its balance sheet — worth approximately $62.6 million at the time of writing — making it the single largest corporate holder of Bitcoin. Second place goes to MARA Holdings, a Bitcoin mining firm that holds around 48,000 BTC. According to data from BitcoinTreasuries.NET, over 110 publicly listed companies around the globe have now added Bitcoin to their reserves.
Saylor’s remarks highlight a growing tension within the crypto community: the balance between transparency and security. As the space matures and more traditional institutions step in, the industry may need to rethink how it defines trustworthiness without exposing itself to unnecessary risks. For now, Saylor remains a contrarian voice, advocating for robust enterprise-grade security over optics-driven transparency.
