Many crypto leaders criticised the former CEO of Bitcoin bull firm MicroStrategy for suggesting that Bitcoin custody should be entrusted to banks.
Michael Saylor is the former CEO and current executive chairman of the Nasdaq-listed business intelligence firm MicroStrategy. Under Saylorâs leadership, the firm has been continuously purchasing Bitcoin since 2020. Saylor has always actively praised Bitcoin and raised awareness about its benefits.
On 21 Oct 2024, Michael Saylor shared his thoughts on Bitcoin custody. His statement was a stark contrast to his previous endorsement of self-custody. He now believes that âtoo big to failâ banks should be relied upon for Bitcoin storage.
Bitcoin bull & advocate Michael Saylor believes people should hand over their #Bitcoin fund bustody to banksSource: https://t.co/7Z0SvGCwib
â Bitcoinik (@Bitcoinikdotcom) October 23, 2024
In response to this personal opinion, many crypto advocates strongly opposed Saylorâs view, criticising the idea of Bitcoin custody being placed in the hands of banks.
CasaHODL co-founder said that placing Bitcoin custody with banks poses many risks, including centralization of Bitcoin, disenfranchising Bitcoiners from participating in governance activities like running nodes or trading forks, and hindering the advancement of cryptographic features, as institutions typically donât care about technological innovation in crypto. Additionally, permissionless scaling could be deprioritized, as third-party IOUs would handle scaling instead.
Bitcoin self custody isn't just about being a paranoid mountain man. There are many long-term negative ramifications to convincing people to trust third party custodians.1. Centralizing coins into a few hands increases systemic risk of loss and seizure.2. Bitcoiners getâŠ
â Jameson Lopp (@lopp) October 22, 2024
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin also criticised Saylor, calling his comment âbatshit insane.â Buterin pointed out that Saylor is promoting a strategy where large, regulated financial institutions like Blackrock and Fidelity would hold Bitcoin, ensuring alignment with lawmakers and law enforcement. However, Buterin argued that this approach has failed in the past and does not align with cryptocurrencyâs core values of decentralisation and self-custody.
I probably did more than most to spread the "mountain man" trope (btw I consider those remarks of mine outdated; snarks and AA changed the tradeoff space completely), and I'll happily say that I think @saylor's comments are batshit insane.He seems to be explicitly arguing for aâŠ
â vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) October 22, 2024
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