I don't really buy many of the arguments here (perhaps a sign of how small a fish I am in the Bitcoin world), but I do find it interesting to see how people like this think.
tl;dr - guy is selling all his Bitcoin to buy etfs (so he can borrow against it more easily), treasury companies (cause he wants leverage), and "diversification" into ai.
What I find interesting is the idea that this is how a large portion of Bitcoin holders think about it - not exactly in to black market money. Is this where Bitcoiners are headed?
I don't think it did. He clearly sees bitcoin as a great investment, rather than seeing it as money. It is a tool for him. He also assumes that bitcoin has been mainstreamed by entering the financial system. One good rug pull might give him some clarity.
Yep, you nailed it
Everyone has a different reason for holding Bitcoin. I think it should be remembered that even Hal Finney envisioned a future where not many people held bitcoin directly, but rather through intermediaries. It still forms a more solid monetary base than fiat does. What really matters is the option to self custody.
Personally, I think owning bitcoin through ETFs and Bitcoin treasury companies has its own risks, so I prefer self-custody. But I won't get mad at people who choose a different approach. What I care more about is if someone understands the reason for Bitcoin, vs. just thinking in terms of "number go up".
Most bitcoiners here at least are not wired like most people. The masses are not gonna become us.
i can't end fiat money on my own, but i can at least give it a papercut by using bitcoin.
hopefully, with enough people operating from the shadows and doing the same, a snowball effect will, in the fulness of time, deal a systemic blow to the fiat system
Design your life with your values and goals. Don't be all talk. Thats how we change the world and our world.
PCC (paper cut crew) members unite!
If all or the great majority of one’s bitcoin is held in ETFs… how do you spend it?
How do you transact? What is the purpose of lightning?
Why are you asking dumb questions. No one using ETFs is concerned with this or they would not be using ETFs.
“Personally, I think owning bitcoin through ETFs and Bitcoin treasury companies has its own risks, so I prefer self-custody.”
I’m responding to this statement. When you have ETFs you don’t own Bitcoin at all. You own shares you actually have zero Bitcoin all you have is exposure to the exchange rate.
You don’t learn about the network, fees, incentives, lightning, privacy, you can’t spend it you basically learn 0.
Having the ‘ETFs instead’ for someone with curiosity is indefensible.
But the author of the article did do self custody but chose to change to ETFs. That suggests he understood about keys, network fees, etc., but ultimately decided that ETFs work better for him.
I wouldn't do what he did, but I wouldn't call him "not a bitcoiner" (not that you called him that either)
The inference of his choice is that he isn't concerned about the state taking his ETF and is prioritizing easy bitcoin based loans. This isn't complicated
Its just an investment vehicle similar to gold ETFs. Its just what it is. It needs no excuses. You just need to know what it actually is. Pretty convinced most ETF holders are under little illusion. If they were concerned about the stuff you mentioned they would not be in ETFs.
The other sector are people will tax advantaged money that move it out of stocks into ETFs. They might also hold real bitcoin. I don't think these people are under any illusions either.
Great thing is I don't have to care. I can make my own choices and others should make theirs as well. Trust me, if it all goes sideways they will pay for it.
People are selling their bitcoin from the ETFs… because they don’t know what it is. That’s all I’m saying.
lol
lmao
BWAHAHAHAHAHA WHEEZE
__@_'-'
I am not surprised by this.
As the million dollar man said "everybody's got a price".
Maybe not everybody but almost everybody has a price in terms of wealth where they will ignore the principles and ideological reasons that led them to Bitcoin in favour of fiat gains. It's unfortunate but unsurprising.
once you've built meaningful wealth, investing is fun, like a game - let bitcoin be your savings yes, but investing the wealth you won't need is fulfilling for some people
it varies by individual and country, what you consider significant enough to invest anything...I would say that is ~ 200 BTC in a wealthy western nation, in 2025, for a family man...your number is probably different, and of course decreases with time
This is my approach! Also companies solve problems and provide goods and services.
Investing in a company may lead to loss but as long as you use bitcoin as your savings then you can invest along with your morals and principles and need these investments to secure your future.
Black market money sounds cool in a sci fi sense but if we get to a point where it's the #1 use case, humanity has some big problems. I think reasonable people over generations will come to treat it like gold. Along with that Bitcoin's excellent properties as base money will help it push fiat aside.
He's an AI-head. On that same blog he wrote, a year ago:
Which is another example of —
In which, he also (predictably) commented:
"Note: I dictated this post to ChatGPT and it cleaned it up for me (it took out the repeats and things like ‘eh’, and it actually rephrased some sentences). Then I edited it myself, which took more time than I had expected. Not sure if I like the result better than writing a normal post: I feel when writing it on a laptop I tend to go deeper and add more detail. My sentences also tend to be much shorter when dictating. Maybe I need to just practice it a bit more?"
So, time-consuming, mediocre, dissatisfying... but still using it, and atrophying his brain cells while he does.
The real reason for dropping BTC is because he's working at Tesla now and believes in an AI-dominated future where no one works. That, of course, is the polar opposite of our philosophy: proof-of-work versus proof-of-shit you might call it. 💡
gets to a point of why diversify?When you can just go with Thee best winner..once you wake up and realize these dollars nor the etfs are true value just they were meant as means to acquire wealth thats when us small fish can begin to truly look for and find real value. Once again it comes back to education...
Everyone has had and will have varying reasons for acquiring Bitcoin.
Mine was because I objected (and still do) to the undue influence bankers have gained over our politics and lives.
Have also sold down my stack a little lately not to invest in other things so much as to just live and work on some projects that are important to me.
Still hoping Bitcoin will be more widely adopted for payments but that hope is fading as more and more of the narrative seems to be able NGU and speculative commodity ETF SoV style use.
Whatever will be will be- we the owners and users of Bitcoin do get to have our say in how we use the protocol.
The education as to what bitcoin is is the important thing.
If all people want is NGU speculative commodity without ‘doing anything’ (or learning anything) then the protocol will fail.
Bitcoin is like a city - people participating in the network, participating in consensus. That means paying fees, using the network, and trying to leave it ‘slightly better’ for the next generation if possible.
If it’s just ‘holding the etf because it goes up’ with zero education or network use, then the protocol will fail.
The guy became rich and changed his behavior which is totally fine.
However, he also confirms that fiat system works great for the richest.
Yes, brainwashed into it.
History repeats itself in cycles, better study about how BlackRock’s EVIL Plans To Steal YOUR Bitcoin.
gooood sell them all, more sats for me
Disappointing to see this as a trend.
It would be like saying… ‘well bitcoin is an investment’ therefore I don’t need sats…
So I won’t participate in the network. Therefore I have no need for stacker news.
I’ll just get my Bitcoin news from cnn!
Someone keeps printing money and he says his earnings have doubled. He doesn't take into account the inflation in fiat currency.