Apart from heading MicroStrategy, Saylor has also been an active supporter of the Bitcoin standard.
At the same time as it announced its second-quarter earnings report for 2022, MicroStrategy revealed that Saylor would take on the role of Chairman of the board at the company, while the company's chairman and former CFO Phong Le will become the company's CEO. The changes are expected to go into effect on August 8. Saylor said,
"I believe that separating the roles of Chairman and CEO will allow us to better implement the two corporate strategies of acquiring Bitcoin and growing the business analytics software business."
He further added,
"As Chairman of the Board, I will be able to focus more on buying strategy and Bitcoin-related advocacy initiatives, while Phong will manage the overall operations of the company."
Phong was the CFO of MicroStrategy from August 2015 to July 2019 before becoming the company's president in May 2022. According to MicroStrategy, Phong will continue his duties as president and chief executive officer in managing the implementation of corporate strategies.
Saylor's departure as CEO comes at a time when his Bitcoin deals have resulted in massive losses for the company. According to the second quarter report, MicroStrategy suffered a loss of $ 917.8 million due to a serious decline in recent years. The company currently owns around 130,000 Bitcoins worth about $3 billion at press time.
Amid a market downturn, Saylor said MicroStrategy would continue to hold through adversity while forecasting and preparing for volatility and being ready to restructure its balance sheet.
Shares of MicroStrategy fell 1.2% in trading on Aug. 2. The company's stock has lost about half of its value this year.
Bitcoin (BTC) has been on an uptrend since mid-July, pushing $21,000 as a support barrier. According to experts, this trend will likely last until around the end of August and bring BTC to $ 26,000.
According to data from the Bitcoin derivatives market, investors are concerned about the risk of a new recession. The reason for that is attributed to BTC's correlation to the traditional stock market, especially as tensions are growing between the US and China.
Besides, recent interest rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve to curb inflation have also had an impact, limiting the cryptocurrency price recovery. Investors are expecting positive signals as the central bank gradually withdraws its stimulus activities without causing significant unemployment or recession.
The chart shows that the correlation between the S&P 500 and Bitcoin for 40 days is currently at 0.72. This is also the value area that the index has been swinging around for the past four months.
According to the "The Week On Chain" report by blockchain analytics firm Glassnode, a trend-breaking pattern occurs when a new influx of investors emerges:
"The number of active addresses surpassing 950,000 would signal an increase in on-chain activity, indicating potential market strength and recovering demand."
However, traders should also watch for whale activity and market signals in the futures market.
Bitcoin derivatives indexes remain neutral, despite the rally to $24,500 on July 30. This shows that traders are not confident in a sustainable uptrend. Therefore, a sudden BTC move above $25,000 will surprise traders. Betting on the upside at the moment seems a bit paradoxical, but at the same time, it will also create an interesting situation.