Michael Sylar, chief executive of MicroStrategy, said on Tuesday that he believes many cryptocurrencies have a bright future, not just bitcoin.
Sylar, one of Bitcoin's most active supporters, has raised the profile of his enterprise software company by investing heavily in the world's largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization over the past year.
As of mid-May, Sylar's MicroStrategy held more than 92000 bitcoins, making it the largest public company in the world. Together, his entities hold more than 110000 bitcoins.
Sylar said in an interview on Tuesday that different cryptocurrencies have different uses, but it may take some time for newcomers to digital assets to recognize these differences.
For example, he sees Bitcoin as a "digital property" and a tool for storing value, while ethercoin and the ethernet block chain seek to subvert traditional finance.
"you want to build your building on hard granite, so Bitcoin is for permanence-high integrity, very durable," Sylar said. Ethernet is trying to dematerialize exchanges and financial institutions. I think as the market starts to understand these things, everyone has a place. "
MicroStrategy announced on Monday that it recently completed a $500m bond issue and the proceeds will be used to buy more bitcoins. The company also announced plans to sell $1 billion worth of new shares, some of which will be used to buy bitcoins.
The company's shares are up about 62 per cent so far this year and more than 400 per cent over the past year. At Tuesday's close, the stock was up more than 5 per cent at $630.54, but down more than half from its 52-week high of more than $1300 in February.