The very problem with companies (specifically exchanges) and ETFs buying Bitcoin is that both of those are themselves anti-self-custodial and anti-privacy in nature. BTC will have the same issue that gold and silver have soon: An overdependence on custodians.
These types of initiatives and podcasts/content around them are important.
Some people wonder if companies or ETFs buying a lot of bitcoin is a risk to Bitcoin. Not really. If *checks notes* buying it hurts the network, then it wasn’t a good network to begin with. As a multi-trillion dollar equivalent liquid network, it’s natural that it’s attracting big buyers now. That’s part of its adoption process. Any sufficiently orange-pilled individual, company, asset manager, or sovereign is going to want into it, and Bitcoin as an open network is money for all.
But what IS a risk to the network, or at the very least your ability to comfortably interact with the network in a sovereign way, are bad laws, over-eager prosecutors, and other things that push developers away from your jurisdiction. In addition, it’s a risk to the network when a majority of people are anti-bitcoin or anti-privacy or against self-custody, etc. Because in those environments early adopters can get treated as scapegoats for societal problems.
Engaging in advocacy that helps keep the most anti-bitcoin, anti-privacy crackdowns from occurring, and advocacy that helps codify some protections into law to prevent those crackdowns from occurring in the future, is important. So is public education around the topic.
Great episode nostr:nprofile1qqsvfr3f7p95stxqrjslnmuvsmhcxxxqt8swjdfjx5tz7zq0yms5cygpzpmhxue69uhkummnw3ezumrpdejqz9thwden5te0wfjkccte9ekk7um5wgh8qatz35qr8u and nostr:nprofile1qqsr6tj32zrfn7v0pu4aheaytdnnc6rluepq73ndc2tdjzus34gat9qpramhxue69uhkummnw3ez6un9d3shjtnzd96xxmmfdchxu6twdfsszynhwden5te0danxvcmgv95kutnsw43q9kk8fj
Discussion
The reason why gold and silver have that issue is because it's unwieldly to transfer and hold and secure. It's physical metal in a digital age. If you want to take possession of gold or silver from a major commodities/futures exchange, it literally involves an armed guard transfer and is very expensive and time-consuming.
In contrast, a bitcoin transaction can be sent and confirmed within the hour. Attempts to rehypothecate bitcoin at scale get punished way faster, and fiat doesn't have the speed advantages over bitcoin that it has over gold and silver.
When gold and silver were rehypothecated and fiat currencies broke away from them, people kept using fiat currencies anyway because they were fast. Whereas now, bitcoin is as fast as fiat currencies but doesn't have the supply dilution.
