I have a question related to this. In the same way you will not tell everyone that you have money on your house, I don't think is a great idea to publicly say you have btc in self custody. So, how do you onboard users close to you (so they know who you are and where you live) and you don't get exposed to being ratted to tax authorities or assaulted?
Discussion
Just don't ever reveal the size of your stack. You can freely teach self-custody best practices without ever revealing you have life-changing wealth.
selfcustody does not mean one tries to do shady stuff or avoid taxes. It is about who holds and governs the value.
You don't have your Bitcoin in your home. It's the signing device or key that you control. This is not part of the Bitcoin network.
Your key is a signing device or software that you unlock to sign transactions and your public key is used to provide addresses in order to receive payments on the "block chain".
The public key also is not revealed by providing addresses.
Learning how Bitcoin works will build confidence in self custody. Also learning that software solutions are governed by standards and protocols gives you the confidence to not be dependent on specific solutions.
As a known Bitcoin person you carry hot wallets that have small amounts and not wallets or signing devices with all of your Bitcoin.
You also don't live in fear because already you are being robbed by the state, banks, credit unions, inflation, poison food, medical quackery and other pre-orange pill standards.
Get off of zero. Learn to use Bitcoin and this will build your confidence. Also carry knives and guns and be dangerous or expensive to attack.
But the keys are in my mind and someone who knows, can try to force me to reveal them with a gun to my head or to the head of my family.
I know this may sound a bit paranoid (i live in a rather safe country and right now I have a shitty stack) but being ratted to local tax authorities does not seem so paranoid to me, and in any case, my question is if anyone has any tips on how to balance out the urge to discover btc to friends and family (people I care about) and the necesary caution you must have when doing self-custody
They can try to do such things, but if they end your life, they gain nothing. A more realistic paranoia is something plenty of wealthy people deal with, ransom. Guns, and other self defense or security measures are important additions to any bitcoinerâs life.
Also, if youâre afraid of the tax man, itâs because youâre lying to the tax man. Pay your taxes and play by the rules.
Also, a âransomâ stack can be useful. A stack on a seed phrase youâre willing to hand over to save someone you loveâs life, but is not your whole stack.