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34 sats \ 2 replies \ @030a29f333 26 Mar \ on: Is custodial bitcoin really worth anything? bitcoin
NGU is a strong value prop, even if custodial. 99% of people aren't concerned about being rugged of their funds. How much money is in banks today? Brokerage accounts? Property? How many people continue to keep their sats on exchanges despite the numerous blowups? That value all has custodial risk and yet here we are.
You are completely right. Outside the context if bitcoin custody is so normalized that most people don't notice it. And following from that, things like censorship resistance and seizure resistance don't even appear to be needed. It's really amazing how bitcoin changes how you think.
But I'm curious what you think the value prop of things like ecash and liquid are. Does any of the usefulness of bitcoin extend to things that claim to peg to it?
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I'm quite bullish on ecash overall:
-Cashu is a strict improvement on custodial lightning (massive privacy boost, no INDIVIDUAL censorship/rug risk, can selectively choose mints to trust), which is the preferred way for people to interact with LN today.
-Fedimint is quite interesting for communities. The "proof of punch" model where you know who to punch if funds are tampered with will be fascinating to watch.
We'll have to see how the value of custodial sats evolves over time. Rugs will keep happening. Each rug brings more appreciation and awareness for those properties of self custodial bitcoin you mentioned. Ultimately what matters most, IMO, is that we continue to minimize trust where possible and have ever-improving fallback options to transact freely when needed.
Lyn Alden described this recently on WBD. Im not gonna walk around my neighborhood with a bulletproof vest because I trust the people around me. If I'm going to a wartorn area, I'll put it on. If you experience frictions using a cheap and easy system, you have the freedom tech tools necessary to continue. Everything is about tradeoffs.
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