Laizet Powers Capital B to Stay Atop of European Treasury Rankings

The company has been raising capital from long-term investors and institutions thanks to the key selling point that it’s the only corporate Bitcoin stockpiler of its type in the European Union. That’s already encouraged more traditional institutional investors such as Italian insurer Generali to take part in one of Capital B’s equity raisings, according to Laizet, who spoke to Sandmark in an interview on the sidelines of the Bitcoin Asia conference in Hong Kong on 29 Aug.

Capital B is supported by strategic investor Adam Back, CEO of Blockstream, and the only person cited in the seminal White Paper by Satoshi Nakamoto. The company is mirroring Michael Saylor’s playbook, pivoting its business toward buying Bitcoin to generate BTC yield—measured by the growth of bitcoins per share. It remains unfazed by this month’s 17% drop in Saylor’s firm’s stock.

European Strategy

“We want to be the Strategy of Europe,” he said, referring to the firm formerly known as Microstrategy. “The goal is to be the top three, top five, in the world.”

Already in 10 months since Capital B’s initiative began, the company has attracted 200 million euros in capital without the support of financial intermediaries to acquire 2,201 bitcoins. That’s put it on track for its year-end goal of 1,000 to 3,000 coins. Capital B intends to continue enticing traditional fiat currency from investors and using it to acquire 1% of the total global supply of Bitcoin, Laizet said.

“For us there is no concept of keeping money in fiat. In my view there is only Bitcoin and everything else is a Monopoly bill. So, you might want to get rid of the Monopoly bill as quickly as possible – as soon as we receive fiat, we switch that into Bitcoin instantly.”

Crypto reboot

Prior to the rebranding as Capital B, the publicly traded French company previously operated as a media business that then went through a restructuring. Laizet said he’s in his role at the company today thanks to a combination of his adoration of Satoshi’s cryptocurrency and his career experience working with traditional corporate treasuries. He also worked for Accenture, a consultancy, where he helped banks deploy digital asset infrastructure.

“In some ways it’s God’s role. I’m a Bitcoin maximalist; I’m working for Bitcoin and I’m constantly doing what’s best for Bitcoin overall. That’s the core of my decisions. It seems a bit strange, but it’s how it works for me. It’s the best for me, for my family, for the company and for society in the world, in this order.”