Michael Saylor, the co-founder and executive chairman of American business intelligence firm MicroStrategy, has shared what he thinks will happen to bitcoin (BTC) in the next eight years while outlining how it will come into play.

In a recent interview with Cory Klippsten, the founder and CEO of Swan Bitcoin, Saylor noted that he sees bitcoin becoming a global store of value by 2031.

Institutional Adoption

According to him, institutional adoption is one of the first drivers of the digital asset’s global store of value status in the coming years. The bitcoin proponent believes institutional adoption is possible through the “utterances” of the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and decisions by traditional financial institutions.

Saylor mentioned some traditional financial institutions, such as BlackRock and Fidelity, that are beginning to embrace bitcoin in recent times due to its potential despite previously distancing themselves from the asset.

The Explosion of Lightning Network

The MicroStrategy co-founder also cited the explosive growth of the Lightning Network as another factor that will make the digital asset a global store of value.

The Lightning Network is a layer-2 solution built on the bitcoin protocol to make transactions faster and cheaper. Interestingly, MicroStrategy plans to develop applications powered by the Lightning Network that could reach millions of users.

According to Saylor, developing “killer apps” like Lightning Wallets that move digital dollars and BTC and swaps in and out of local currency will create massive demand for the asset.

“I just describe this as in 1991, you had TCP IP, and we had the internet, but not many people used it. In 1994, you had the Netscape browser, and now that was the killer app for the internet, and pretty soon you had 100 million people download that browser and it caught fire,” he said.

Macroeconomic Headwinds

The billionaire also noted that macroeconomic headwinds, such as the United States Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes, are major factors that will help bitcoin achieve a global store of value status.

To tame inflation, the Fed raised the federal funds rate seven times in 2022, with more expected to happen this year. Saylor stated that inflation would increase once the Fed reduces its interest rate hikes which will be a marketing driver for the leading cryptocurrency.

According to the MicroStrategy executive chairman, the combination of these factors will “play out against the new reality: bitcoin is the only digital commodity, it is the only crypto asset, and there is no second best crypto asset.”