Oddbean new post about login | logout If you don’t self-custody your Bitcoin you don’t own your Bitcoin.
not your keys, not your UTXOs
Just like you don't own your games if you can't access & hold offline installers. Or you don't own your music if you can't have lossless copies of the files. Or you can't own ebooks if they're not in downloadable, offline formats like PDF or EPUB. Self-custody BTC, open source software and DRM-free media are crucial for the digital future.
And remember to run your own bitcoin node to avoid revealing your ip, extended pubkey and other data that might pin point to all of your other bitcoin activity ( amount btc you have, all the addresses you have generated , previous txns ) each time you make a new txn. A revealed ip means location and eventually identity cover blowned.
You should do a deep dive into the normies (not high wealth) who are purchasing the ETF. I would guess most of the money so far has come from the self employed who have an IRA or people who have left a job and rolled over their 401k into a self directed IRA . A small subset of people. The big ETF inflows will be when company sponsored 401k's let the ETF in as an offering. That will unlock $7.5T in potential ETF buyers and there are tons of working young people who would send it and dedicate 100% to BTC! To Self custody for IRA holders. If not of retirement age, it would require: - Taking an early withdrawal penalty (10%) - Paying Income Tax (30%) - Purchasing Spot - Paying Capital Gains at sale (15% of gains) For people of retirement age the cost to custody is the same as above minus the 10% early withdrawal penalty. I would love to have nothing but self custody BTC, but the ETF is a great option for retirement money that is locked up.