Key Points
- Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum’s co-founder, criticizes MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor for advocating crypto custody by large banks.
- Saylor’s remarks contradict his previous stance supporting self-custody in the crypto space.
Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, has publicly criticized Michael Saylor, MicroStrategy’s chairman, for his recent comments endorsing the idea of large banking institutions providing custody for Bitcoin.
In a recent post, Buterin termed Saylor’s views as “batshit insane”.
Saylor’s Controversial Remarks
Saylor’s comments, made during an interview with Madison Reidy, suggested that he was in favor of a regulatory capture approach to safeguarding crypto. Buterin disagreed with Saylor, arguing that this approach implies that regulated public entities should hold digital assets, which could lead to major financial institutions eventually dominating Bitcoin.
Other figures in the crypto industry, such as Jameson Lopp, the chief security officer at Bitcoin custody firm Casa, and Erik Voorhees, the founder of ShapeShift, echoed Buterin’s sentiments. They warned that encouraging people to depend on third-party custodians could have numerous negative consequences and undermine the decentralized nature of crypto.
Buterin further stated in his post that there are numerous examples of how this strategy can fail, and it contradicts the original spirit of crypto.
Saylor’s Previous Stance on Crypto Custody
During his interview with Reidy, Saylor criticized “crypto-anarchists”, or non-regulated entities that don’t recognize government, taxes, or reporting requirements. He argued that they increase the risk of digital assets being confiscated.
Saylor suggested that Bitcoin holders should rely on large banks, which are “engineered to be custodians of financial assets”. His recent comments appear to contradict his previous stance, which favored self-custody in the crypto space.
In a 2022 interview, Saylor stated that most individuals, families, and small to medium companies prefer to hold their own private keys or engage in a multi-sig deal, rather than entrusting their funds to large banking institutions.
However, it’s worth noting that Saylor’s company, MicroStrategy, holds 252,220 BTC, making it the corporation with the largest Bitcoin reserve. Saylor has also revealed that he personally owns more than $1 billion worth of Bitcoin.