Michael Saylor, executive chairman of Strategy, has called for a “bill of digital rights” that would give individuals and companies greater freedom to create, own, transfer and use digital assets.

In a new policy essay, Saylor proposed what he calls a “bill of digital rights” for the digital economy. He also discussed the idea at the Bitcoin Policy Institute’s Freedom Tech DC summit.

The proposal is not limited to Bitcoin. It also covers digital tokens, tokenized securities, digital dollars and other forms of digital capital. Saylor says people and companies should have five basic rights when dealing with digital assets: create, issue, custody, transfer and use.

That means people should be able to create new digital assets and companies should be able to issue them to raise money. Owners should be able to hold assets themselves or choose a custodian.

They should also be able to move assets between people, companies, wallets and financial service providers. Finally, they should be able to spend, invest, earn income from or borrow against their assets.

“An asset’s value depends on what its owner can do with it,” Saylor wrote. “Restrict its usefulness, and you restrict its economic potential.”

A major part of Saylor’s argument is connected to artificial intelligence.

He expects AI to make people and companies more productive. But he also believes automation will change industries, eliminate some jobs and make existing products obsolete.

His answer is to make it easier to create and finance new businesses. “Our ambition should be to enable 10 million new companies to raise capital,” Saylor wrote.

He believes digital tokens could make fundraising faster and cheaper. Small businesses, for example, should not need large teams of lawyers or complicated financial structures just to reach potential investors.

Saylor wants regulators to create clear rules for issuing digital assets, with disclosure requirements that are appropriate for the risks involved.

“Protecting existing business models while making it difficult to finance their successors leaves the economy poorly prepared for technological change,” he wrote.

Saylor also wants banks to have a bigger role in the bitcoin market. He says banks should be allowed to custody bitcoin for customers and provide loans backed by bitcoin under clear rules.

He also wants insurance companies to have a practical way to hold digital assets and use them in financial products.

Saylor has criticized the Basel framework’s 1,250% risk weight for certain digital asset exposures. He argues that regulators should look at the actual activity and risk involved.

For example, holding bitcoin for a customer is different from lending money against bitcoin. A bank using its own money to buy bitcoin is different again, he says. Saylor believes the rules should recognize these differences.

Saylor's proposal also includes digital dollars, including stablecoins.

He argues that banks, fintech companies and technology platforms should be able to offer digital dollar products and compete on yield. “Where the law prevents it, the law should change,” Saylor wrote.

He believes competition could make digital dollar products more useful and help extend the reach of the US dollar around the world.

His position also raises questions about current US stablecoin rules, which restrict certain permitted stablecoin issuers from paying holders interest or yield simply for holding their tokens.

Saylor also calls for stronger financial privacy.

Under current US tax rules, spending a digital asset can create a taxable gain or loss event that users may have to calculate. Saylor argues for a meaningful “de minimis” exemption for small digital-asset payments so ordinary purchases do not create unnecessary paperwork.

He argues that ordinary, lawful transactions should not automatically trigger government reporting simply because money or digital assets have changed hands. He also wants people to be able to verify their identity once and reuse trusted credentials with different financial companies, with their permission.

The idea is to reduce the amount of paperwork customers face when opening accounts or using different financial services.

Saylor believes digital assets could become particularly important as AI agents become more common. AI software could eventually research products, negotiate deals, make purchases and manage money without a person handling every step.

That would require financial systems that operate continuously and can be accessed directly by software. Saylor says digital wallets, programmable payments and transferable digital assets could help provide that infrastructure.

The proposed bill of digital rights is not a law and does not change the rules for Bitcoin today. It is Saylor's vision for how governments should approach digital assets as technology and financial markets develop.