I remember when Odell started talking about Prime Trust going bust before it did, I talked to someone at Swan about it and they assured me "trusted custodian" "certified fiduciary" or some suit talk for "couldnt possibly be re-hypothecating your money". I decided I trusted Odell more, and what do you know, turned out Odell was right.
Discussion
I think having a "Trust nostr:npub1qny3tkh0acurzla8x3zy4nhrjz5zd8l9sy9jys09umwng00manysew95gx" heuristic and then verifying will put you on the right path more often than not.
I don't think he wants the weight of people's trust. He just wants us to think for ourselves and verify our information.
I respect him and listen when he speaks, but I don't trust him any more than anyone else who I follow on social media.
Sadly I don't have the skills to evaluate code, or dig into a company's financials. Best I can do is think critically about who in the space is worth trusting based on what they've said and how they say it, and also where/why they clash with others in the space. Its worked for me so far.
I agree with you. I'm similar in that I'm limited in what I can directly verify myself. So I listen to the people I respect and make a judgment call. It's the closest to verification that's possible in most situations.
I'm just trying to say that lionizing anyone, no matter how well deserved, can backfire.
🎯
I also vaguely remember a cryptic warning from nostr:npub1cn4t4cd78nm900qc2hhqte5aa8c9njm6qkfzw95tszufwcwtcnsq7g3vle around the same time and I took heed of it.
I was at the first Pacific Bitcoin when the first rumors were swirling about Prime Trust. I was near Corey and overheard him assure someone that prime trust is solid.
I'm a smooth brain, but even I could see it in Corey's body language that even he was questioning.
"I'm a smooth brain" made me laugh real hard 🤣. Thanks, homie
I know (almost) nothing about crypto, but I do know banking. If someone is holding your (value) as custodian, it is guaranteed that entity is hypothecating that value somehow. Absolutely 100%.
interesting
Yup! I don't think it was rehypothecation though. The Prime Trust dumbasses fucked up their wallets. I think they were sending BTC to wallets that they no longer had the keys to but didnt know it.
After all Corey's shit talking about doing things right and shitting on everybody else, when Prime Trust blew and he had his ass in the wind, that's when I started really disliking that fucking jagoff.
The interesting thing for me to wait and see is if podcasters like Natalie Brunell, Stephan Livera, and Peter McCormack will stop shilling swan. Well, we all know Peter won't, he'll milk that shit til it's dry, but my guess is that the others won't stop either.
Swan moved off PrimeTrust and no customer at Swan lost anything. Did Cory defend PT too long, sure. Swan is on message to self custody. I agree to call out questions about the numbers, but sometimes the piling on gets tiring. there are worse problems in the ecosystem
I bounced a Swan around the same time. Too much smoke in the air. Gotta be a fire there.