Monero is pretty close to 100% self-custody.
We will see the value of crypyo self-custody vs crypto custody vs fiat custody in a couple of years. It represents the intelligence vofva group at large. Will show itself in NGU.
Discussion
If the Monero group was so intelligent you'd realize that Monero scales worse than Bitcoin and it's lack of fees represents a lack of use.
I just don't think we need a second super small block size chain like BTC, that mainly scales through custodial solutions. I do think there is enough space for both protocols to thrive.
Your problem is that you think Bitcoin is money (it's not) that will eat all other coins and projects.
So what are the downsides of larger blocks on Monero? Miners still can't censor transactions. FCMP++ will enable payment channels/LN on Monero. Fee algo is completely different from BTC.
Inflation is currently the same between both. Supply will be smaller for XMR until 2040 and I bet by then Bitcoin will need a hardfork to secure its security budget through tail emission.
Ask Peter Todd.
Only fools ignore Monero, which is essentially a protocol for Bitcoiners by OG Bitcoiners.
Sure thing grandpa.
Take a lot on daily transactions and you'll see monero more used for buying real stuff than that government-approved old tech of yours.
Lol. You missed my point. Try reading. I don't have anything against privacy BTW. Use monero if you want. But holding it makes you poor.
I bought BTC 14 years ago. I have more important things to do than becoming fiat NGU rich. It's something I achieved in 2013. So more than 10 years to shift my attention from nominal (fiat) wealth. To real wealth.
Before everything I value my freedom and privacy. And you are free to ignore all of that. Both of us will face the consequences if our (in)actions.
You don't think that the XMR/BTC chart will have any impact on your life? Genuine question. I really have a hard time understanding why you wouldn't focus on better privacy tools on Bitcoin instead of dooming yourself with an entirely separate currency.
I do think that markets move in cycles and the last 7 years have been in favour of Bitcoin. Mainly because BTC has seen institutional investment, while Monero got delisted because it stayed true to its cypherpunk roots not willing to comprpmise on user privacy (regulatory pressure) and also because it suffered from fractionally reserved exchanges like Binance (price suppression).
I also believe in trading long term waves over "holding forever" - buy low and sell high.
Monero has a lower supply for the next 16 years than BTC and a similar inflation. Meaning, the only risk there is, is an undetected inflation bug. That's a risk I can easily hedge. Risk from regulatory pressure and delisting is priced in, Which tells me that risk vs reward is hugely in favour of Monro over anything else (including Bitcoin).
Best of luck to you.
Thank you. Everybody will need some luck to survive the turmoil of the next decade.
I feel quite well positioned with my non maxi position. Having some Bitcoin, Monero and gold doesn't seem to be reckless.
The only reason I get in these discussions with Monero people is because of the evangelization of it over Bitcoin that I constantly hear. I guess I know how the fiat people must feel now lol.
But any differences aside that we have, I'm sure we agree on 90% of issues and I hope that life treats you well.
Don't you think it is interesting that the only shitcoiners that found their way to nostr are early Bitcoiners now into Monero?
I do think that is because nostr represents freedom just as much as does Bitcoin and Monero. And yes we have more than 90% in common. You value audiability, immutability, node decentralization and a fixed supply higher than privacy, long term miner rewards (security) and decentralized CPU mining.
There are tradeoffs.
Unlimited supply in combination with mainly trading the coin for fiat gains, makes it a weak asset imo. BTCs success is based on the real hodlers that keep their biggest part of fiat in btc, not in gold, silver, bonds, real estate etc.
Could you agree?
You didn't bought 10 years ago.
You didn't bought monero now.
I was already rich-retired before my 30s. With that religious mentality you are not going to make it.
Lol, Monero is down 72% against Bitcoin over the past 5 years but I'm NGMI? Good luck!
Is this your first cycle Zach? After making it through all Bitcoin cycles I am quite confident Bitcoiners of 2009 and 2010 class also make it through Monero's bear market against BTC.
What you think is that it will only go down like nocoiners when they look at BTC? Seriously?
We may have a lot in common, but we are not the same. Bitcoiners faith has never been challenged the same as Monero fiat price has challenged its holders.
You're living in a cult when you think others only make money by waiting for a specific coin to go up.
Not everyone is like you are, today.
Yes, I've mined bitcoin back in 2009. Yes, I've bought Monero and many other coins over the years because I enjoyed the tech and kept supporting them.
Was rich-retired before crypto before you even knew that word existed. Think for yourself a bit: you can only be early when you are on the field understanding what has value and hasn't.
Heck, why do you even think I'm on NOSTR replying to poor souls like you. Think for yourself, people around here do care that you also make it.
First part is true, but it depends what you mean. It scales worse in the sense that it requires more resources to run a node the more it grows. It scales better in the sense that it can accomodate more transactions than Bitcoin, where Bitcoin is already near it's limit. We saw that earlier this year.
The fee part is just false. Because of dynamic blocks the more transactions there are the more fees miners get in total, but the cheaper fees get per transaction.
That might be technically true but the reality is that monero blocks are essentially empty. 
Yep, which is why I don't understand if Monero has "essentially empy" blocks why you then turn around and sometimes promote Liquid and Ecash which has orders or magnitude less use
I can easily explain that - it's because liquid and Ecash provide similar benefits for payments while still being denominated in Bitcoin and not a shitcoin. Hence the "build privacy on top of Bitcoin" position I always take.
For all the talk you guys do about how every merchant loves monero your mempool is dead lmao.
If you recommend Liquid you obviously don't care about dead mempools lmao
Here is my original note which started this conversation. If you think my point boils down to "empty mempools bad" you are having trouble understanding.
My point was just that Monero scales worse then Bitcoin on L1 and has almost no fees because it has very few users. Yes, blocks are dynamic, but it doesn't matter if you have 12 transactions per block.
Liquid is not a shitcoin network, it is a Bitcoin denominated sidechain with different tradeoffs. So the network effects and economics of Bitcoin apply to it. It is just a tool, not a currency itself. Monero is a shitcoin with a floating exchange rate so it gets harsher treatment.
Ok, I still don't agree that Liquid benefits from Bitcoins network effects despite being Bitcoin denominated. We can see in it's transactions volume and lack of merchant adoption. In practice it's a different network.
And almost no merchant accepts Liquid or Ecash. Monero is massive in comparison to both.