pre Super Bowl bitcoin talk yesterday \ stacker news ~bitcoin

Before the Super Bowl yesterday I was talking to a fellow about bitcoin. He said he'd put some money into one of the ETFs (and was already up 10%). He was upper 50s, not afraid of tech but not a geek either, in the middle. Still, he specifically said he preferred the ETF route rather than holding one's own bitcoin for fear of losing it.

My point is that we here often chastise others for going the ETF route rather than self-custodying. But a couple of things...

I imagine the average age here is younger rather than older
The typical Gen Xer or Boomer likely has a very different mindset on bitcoin and custody
The folks in that second group have a ton more money than the younger folks...that money flowing into an ETF is a good thing

And along those lines, I've seen the survey results a couple of places recently about institutional advisors and their interest in investing in bitcoin. The news is normally framed that "only 12%" of advisors plan to invest into bitcoin within the next five years. The premise is that 88% don't, but I think they're missing the point. 12%, to me, is a lot of people. If you rewind only a few years, I'd be surprised if it was 2%. I recall the first time I asked my financial advisor (maybe 2017?), "What do you think about bitcoin?" His answer, "Well, it's not backed by anything. Tulips, it's all tulips." That's almost verbatim his answer.

tldr; Let people make their own decisions, self-custody or ETF. It's all good for bitcoin.

10 sats \ 1 reply \ @btcthinker 12 Feb

Are ETFs safe? Many people thought FTX was safe until they lost everything. Bitcoin does not rely on third parties to operate, which is counterintuitive to Boomers, which makes it difficult for them to enter the system.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @crrdlx OP 12 Feb

I guess the safety issue is up to the buyer to decide. One could also ask, "Is holding your own bitcoin safe?" There are lots of things that can go wrong self-custodying as well. So, to me, it's a personal choice for each individual. I know people who would definitely loose their keys and therefore lose their bitcoin. An ETF would be much safer for them.

I think I do understand what you're saying though...if Coinbase or whomever is actually custodying the BTC gets hacked or there's an inside job or goes belly-up or whatever, that'd be a problem for sure.