>it worked for most of us
False. Most people that ever bought bitcoin on exchanges are not bitcoiners today. Most did not understood its value and sold when appropriate.
It's delusional to think that onboarding people thorough gated regulated exchanges and custodial banks is going to make them appreciate the value of freedom money.
“It worked for most of us”
I should have qualified that, by saying “it worked for most of us who are here now, as bitcoiners.”
It’s a good point/open question whether most people who purchase on an exchange ever take self custody. Presumably there is some analytic function that could get a number, but I don’t know.
But I’d argue, anecdotally, that numerous nostr users - who discovered Bitcoin here - started with WoS and have been learning about Bitcoin and self custody over the past few months. Learning how to take care of the stack that they’re building (and KYC-free, as a bonus).
You're literally describing Survival Bias: "we went through that and survived, so this must be a good idea!"
😂 Got me with that argument
I think there’s an organic and “convenient” way to onboard plenty of new bitcoiners and get them into self-custody, at scale. Realistically, we won’t onboard the world in our lifetime if we don’t use stepping stones. Even better to build stepping stones that improve custody, privacy, etc etc.
But voices like yours will remain important, especially in this context. If it makes a newbie say “wait wtf is my Bitcoin safe?”, that’s a very important question for each of us to ask
It’s early days. Willing to bet most went through the centralised route to acquire bitcoin. But it does largely depend on the individual and what they do/learn from then on. What do you propose is the best way to onboard users to make them appreciate the value of freedom money?
It's best to transmit your leanerd experiences and make them avoid the same mistakes: shitcoins, exchanges, kyc, defi, yield, custodial LN, etc.
I know we agree that custodial solutions are not solutions.
Even with the best of intentions, these services may inadvertently become rug-pulls of a sort if they are forced to implement KYC.
That said, I am comfortable keeping a few thousand sats on WoS, purely for zapping others, if it sparks their curiosity and excitement about Bitcoin, Lightning, and freedom tech.
I’d rather hold the door open to have the conversation, offer the guidance, and help them do it right. Again and again, I would choose that.
I do recall hearing that some self-custodial LN services are working on a solution for static Lightning addresses. Hopefully it won’t be long until this debate fades into irrelevance ⚡️🤙
True. Which is why my experience tells me to use an easy-to-use custodial wallet that works in Nostr for tiny sat tips entirely because it just works…for now. And to never hold a significant amount with the likes of WoS etc. Significant bitcoin stacking is a whole different ball park and that indeed needs more transmission of learned experiences.
