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42 sats \ 4 replies \ @kepford 6 May \ parent \ on: Conversation With A Boomer Buddy bitcoin
Its an ETF so IMO if you have cash never buy it because it's not actually bitcoin. Buy and self custody bitcoin. But many people buy bitcoin on Coinbase and leave it on the exchange. The more I think about it they more I think that this is more risky than the ETF. But it's so easy to pull the coins so do that.
The only scenario I think of for the ETF is a tax advantaged retirement account. You can buy anything but bitcoin. ETF is the next best thing. You could get rugged but unlikely. If you do we are in a really bad situation and you better have actual bitcoin.
Why do you think the ETF is less risky than an exchange?
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I should narrow what I'm thinking here and I could be wrong.
Here's where that is coming from. The legal protections of funds on an exchange I believe are weaker than the protections of an ETF. There's a much higher standard to get an ETF approved vs. starting up an exchange. Some of this is offset if you use Coinbase since most of the ETFs use Coinbase but it Coinbase goes belly up you better believe the ETFs get more attention than some pleb with 50 million sats on an account.
The trade-off though is that you can very easily take custody of your bitcoin if it is on an exchange and you can't with an ETF. And I would never suggest someone that wants to get into bitcoin buy the ETF. But I would also never say buy bitcoin on Coinbase and leave it there...
Additionally not all exchanges are equal so that's not fair of me. Coinbase is likely much better than some random exchange that started last week.
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I actually do recommend Coinbase to people. Ultimately, I'd recommend that they take their Bitcoin off Coinbase, but it's a stepping stone on the path to learning, imo. The reason I view it more highly than an ETF is because you actually can move your Bitcoin off the exchange, and thus it actually is a step towards eventual self sovereignty.
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Yeah, I don't disagree provided they will move the bitcoin. That's the specific scenario I'm thinking of. If you refuse to custody and will never change your mind (impossible to know I guess) then the ETF might be more safe. Might be...
That said I have never recommended the ETF to anyone other than someone that had money in a tax advantaged account and didn't want to move to Unchained or cash it out.
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