Not everyone has a trusted bitcoin advisor in their social circle.
In the past couple years I've known 2 older people to loose a significant amount of money via scams. These people were both older men, formerly very, very sharp, who were not quite sharp as previously, as they aged. They can no longer deal with remote controls and smartphones very easily, either. The idea that they could self-custody their bitcoin is a non-starter.
I definitely do not think that self-custody is suitable for everyone. However, that doesn't mean I think their btc should be held on exchanges. Just that I'm hoping for other options to come soon. Like better tools, time-lock, easy-to-use multi sig, etc. Or maybe these tools are already out there.
I would agree. There is a room for custodial services that is done right. What that actually means I'm not sure. But I see big names like Fidelity (on purpose said LIKE Fidelity, not necessarily them), which can be sued and held responsible, to be useful in situations like that. Also, let's say you got lucky and accumulated over 150 BTC, you will not keep that in one wallet I hope, one should spread that around which means multiple wallets and multisig, etc. That sounds like a business to me. Just saying...
reply