Hey y’all,
Very long time lurker round these, and different crypto associated, components of reddit. I figured this might be the very best neighborhood to ask an sincere query I’ve relating to self custody, and its idealized future.
With the latest collapse of FTX, the larger crypto neighborhood has been beating the drum of returning to the basics and the significance of “not your keys not your crypto”. I used to be listening to an interview on The Breakdown with Jesse Powell of Kraken this night, and he appeared to suggest that the concept of holding money in a shoebox below your mattress was some form of good mannequin for a way folks saved cash prior to now. He was drawing the comparability to holding money below your mattress in a shoebox within the previous days, and it felt like he was romanticizing it. The implication is that holding your crypto in chilly storage, on a {hardware} pockets, is what everybody must be doing.
I do that. I’ve achieved this since I understood the significance of it once I first bought into crypto in early 2021 (I do know, I am a child). I wasn’t affected in any respect by the collapse of FTX, though I would bought from them prior to now. Self custody is smart to me. It is definitely one of many values I determine with and perceive as necessary to the area. Merely put, we do not need some centralized organizations in a position to freeze our property, management how we spend our cash, or in anyway have an effect on our selections surrounding it. With all that being mentioned, here is my query.
**If the idealized way forward for self custody is realized, how does that search for the conventional particular person and can it ever embrace the identical conveniences/assurances that enormous, centralized, banks supply?**
The thought of holding money below my mattress is, frankly, ridiculous. There’s so many issues that may go fallacious. My home may very well be damaged into and my “shoebox” taken. I might lose the shoebox. The shoebox may very well be taken by a member of the family. If I ever wish to spend that cash, I’ve to go residence and bodily get the money to spend it someplace. The checklist goes on…
Nearly all the identical issues exist immediately with cryptocurrency, however to some extent they’re even worse. Wish to spend a few of my crypto? I would higher have my bodily {hardware} pockets on me, or I would at the very least higher have transferred a few of it to a location that I can entry it from the web. What occurs if my home burns down? Perhaps I saved my seed phrase in one other location, however that is type of so much to ask is not it? What occurs if my {hardware} pockets malfunctions? What occurs if the corporate that owns the {hardware} pockets pushes a nasty firmware/software program replace? Certain, I can at all times restore that pockets with my seed phrase, however holy shit what a painful course of.
To not point out the educational curve on all of it’s definitely non-trivial. I am a software program engineer. Plenty of the interactions intuitively makes some sense to me. I will not get an excessive amount of into how the expectation of asking some non-technical, 60-70 12 months previous particular person is pretty ridiculous. I think about numerous that might be ironed out over time as we discover a extra seamless method to set wallets up and work together with them.
I need my query to focus round is there a world the place self custody is ever as CONVENIENT as trusting some centralized company with a large infrastructure and the motivation for folks to spend cash? Is comfort, and to a sure diploma safety (fraud safety, insurance coverage, and so on.), merely a commerce off of getting direct management over your cash? Or does crypto have some long run resolution for that I am simply too close-minded to think about? Will I at all times have to hold my {hardware} pockets round with me?
Simply curious to listen to from others! Thanks!
You wrote a lot of stupid shit.
Did you have an actual question?
> The idea of keeping cash under my bed is, frankly, ridiculous
The obvious extension to this concept is that hoarding Bitcoin is ridiculous
Bitcoin is a payment system. Buy as much as you plan to spend. Spend it. As a merchant, receive a Bitcoin payment. Sell the Bitcoin immediately
If you think Bitcoin hoarding is necessary to protect against some unspecified near-future financial calamity, stuff cash currency in a mattress, or gold Krugerrand in a locked box, or Bitcoin in a seed phrase written on paper, plus passphrase. One of these options is more portable than the others
> will it ever include the same conveniences/assurances that large, centralized, banks offer?
If you’re hoarding Bitcoin in anticipation of bank failure, why would you want a bank (or any equivalent “service”) to help you to hoard Bitcoin? Bitcoin is what it is **because** it has no helpdesk to prompt a password reset or mediate a payment dispute with the car wash
Why is there a sudden rash of people expecting to have it both ways?
This narrative that Bitcoin has to grow into what everybody is used to is ridiculous. Bitcoin is useful **because** it doesn’t do those things
> Want to spend some of my crypto? I’d better have my physical hardware wallet on me
This piece is really weird. Not only is there a sudden rush of “ordinary people want a bank to hold their hands” posts, but they all make this silly claim about the inconvenience of spending from a hardware wallet
Are you being paid to post from the same list of bullet points as all the others? OR are you suddenly interested in Bitcoin because your favorite shop has a discount on rope and carabiners if you pay using Bitcoin?
You can engrave your seed phrase on a titanium seed storage plate. That will protect it from the elements.
You can keep some of your BTC on a hot wallet (smartphone app) and spend what you need.
This is like keeping your BTC in a bank (cold wallet at home) while carrying some cash around (hot wallet on phone).
It’s actually a lot more convenient than fiat and traditional banks. Nobody can steal your money, and instead of a bunch of paper cash, you only need a phone, hardware wallet, and a credit card sized seed storage plate.
No it is not convenient, right now you either need to bring wallet (hot or cold) with you or use 2nd layer solution (lightning etc.). In future you may be able to exchange your bitcoin for credits from big merchants that you can use later. Freedom has a cost.
>If the idealized future of self custody is realized, how does that look for the normal person
If it was for the “normal person” we wouldn’t have electricity, cars, airplanes. We could not even have this exchange of comments right now because the “normal person” said that The Internet was a fad and it was only useful for sexual predators, drug dealers and money launderers.
Obligatory quote of hodlonaut’s [tweet](https://twitter.com/hodlonaut/status/1593239308709888000):
*We live in a time where people have been so dumbed down and stripped of responsibility that writing down 12 words and safekeeping them is broadly considered beyond the capacity of an average human being.*
We should stop giving the “normal person” too much importance. The sorts of the world don’t depend on them and this has been true for centuries now. They can stay behind if they want, there is nothing wrong with that.
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>will it ever include the same conveniences/assurances that large, centralized, banks offer?
What conveniences/assurances? The fact that they can lend money they don’t actually have and charge an interest rate on that loan? The fact that they basically print money out of thin air and push inflation rates higher and higher? The fact that they finance wars? The fact that they offer a 0.25% interest on your savings account when inflation is already at 10%? The fact that in the event of a bank run they can just freeze accounts and suspend withdrawals? What conveniences/assurances?