Vitalik Buterin Criticizes MicroStrategy Chairman Michael Saylors Bitcoin Custody Views as Batsht Insane

CoinTimes reported:
Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, is wavering. MicroStrategy Chairman Michael Saylor made a speech on Bitcoin custody at the Madison Market. In an interview, Saylor discussed his long-term vision for Bitcoin and how he views the development of the community. He said, “I think when Bitcoin is held by a group of unregulated crypto-anarchists who don’t recognize government, don’t recognize taxes, or don’t recognize reporting requirements, it increases the risk of confiscation.” However, his words may be somewhat hypocritical, as it is well known that this cryptocurrency tycoon paid $40 million to settle a tax evasion claim and $8.5 million to settle an accounting fraud claim. Saylor went on to say that self-custody may be more of a fantasy than a reality. He said, “You have a very hardcore OG crypto community, but if you look at where all the money is—99.9% of the money—it’s actually in traditional finance.” “This is a myth and a recurring metaphor,” he continued, adding that “too big to fail” banks provide more secure custody solutions than hardware wallets. Buterin responded to co-founder Jameson Lopp; the Chief Security Officer of Bitcoin self-custody company Casa called Saylor’s remarks “extremely crazy.” Buterin criticized, “[Saylor] seems to explicitly advocate taking a regulatory capture approach to protect cryptocurrencies…there have been many failures of this strategy, and to me, that’s not what cryptocurrencies are about.” “I may be working harder than most to spread the metaphor of the mountain man (by the way, I think my remarks are outdated; snarks and AA have completely changed the space of trade-offs), and I’m happy to say that I think Saylor’s comments are simply insane,” he said. In other parts of the interview, Saylor emphasized that he is a childless bachelor, so there is no obvious successor to inherit his Bitcoin empire besides humanity itself. “When I’m gone, I’m gone. Just as Satoshi left a million bitcoins to the world, I leave everything I own to civilization,” he said, comparing Bitcoin to the “secret of civilization” based on its solid foundation, quoting the Bible. As of last month, MicroStrategy holds 252,220 BTC, making it the company’s largest Bitcoin reserve. As of August 2024, Saylor himself owns over $1 billion worth of Bitcoin, about 17,857 BTC.