Reddit Posts
🚀 Why Now Is the Time to Look at Bitcoin & Ethereum: News, Fundamentals, and Technical Analysis
🚀 Why Now Is the Time to Look at Bitcoin & Ethereum: News, Fundamentals, and Technical Analysis
Need some help as a complete beginner
Bitcoin Self Custody Security is Probabilisitc
I built a free browser game where you HODL through every Bitcoin crash in history — one mistake and you lose everything
The Coldcard situation made me appreciate Bitcoin ETF DCA even more
ETFs are the only rational option at this point - convince me otherwise
First U.S. spot bitcoin ETF to close as inflows dwindle, investors chase AI returns
99% of the Crypto community should only be using ETF's and nothing else.
SOL or ETH? If you had to choose one to hold for next 5 years.
Crypto cards are becoming the bridge between crypto and normal life
Redditors, please sell your Bitcoin rather than go back to exchanges or ETFs
Is anyone considering selling their own BTC for a BTC spot ETF?
Is Fidelity Crypto (not the ETF) a good cold storage option?
After 10 years,its time to put my BTC into ETF and hopefully sell soon. I dont' believe in BTC anymore
The Coldcard case fundamentally challenges the future of Bitcoin
8 years of stacking, gone. I think it's time to move on.
The Coldcard fiasco will likely be cited in every BTC ETF pitch
I am going to be a contrarian. It's okay to buy the ETF.
ETF money came back. BTC still barely moved
The $10 Billion Exodus and the $200 Million Band-Aid: Making Sense of BlackRock’s Latest ETF Flows
Anyone else noticing the ETH/BTC ratio behavior lately, or am I just staring at charts too long?
Here is my Bitcoin price prediction 2026
We argue about staking yield all day and mostly ignore that real business lending has moved onchain
Crypto liquidity is still there, but buyers look nervous
Crypto liquidity is still there, but buyers look nervous
We looking at an early bull cycle with clarity act
Any financial representatives have their entire *brokerage* portfolio in a bitcoin ETF like IBIT or FBTC? Is it allowed?
Coinbase says Bitcoin has a fresh institutional bid, but the rally is still fragile
The money I have made this year shorting BTC with 2x inverse ETF (BATS:BTCZ)
$2 Trillion Giant Launches ETF With XRP & DOGE
The ETF outflow streak that drained 2.73B in June already reversed and re-reversed twice this month. Full timeline plus what the Lightning Network data says separately.
Bitcoin ETF flows and Lightning Network volume are quietly decoupling from each other. Full breakdown of what the numbers actually show.
BTC update: still annoying, still alive xD
Crypto ETF Inflows Rebound as the Fed Quietly Expands Liquidity
Crypto ETF Inflows Rebound as the Fed Quietly Expands Liquidity
While crypto equities collapse (Gemini -89%, BitGo -77%, Bullish -71%), BlackRock, Goldman, JPM and Morgan Stanley just joined a UK tokenization taskforce. The speculation business is dying, not crypto.
This is one of those pivotal moments - everything looks bearish, but RSI is flipping and getting a 64k bitcoin is going to look genius a year from now
How Blackrock managed to capture and suppress the Bitcoin price
How Blackrock is killing Bitcoin (and the whole crypto community) - Explained for dummies
Institutional demand remains weak, with net flows into US spot Bitcoin ETFs remaining negative as Bitcoin approaches the $60,000 mark. While long-term holders continue to accumulate on-chain assets, ETF investors remain...
The Man Who Built BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF Now Runs the $10T Fund That Refused to List It
The Man Who Built BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF Now Runs the $10T Fund That Refused to List It
The Man Who Built BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF Now Runs the $10T Fund That Refused to List It
BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF sees $209M inflow after weeks of weaker activity
Political headlines are becoming a bigger part of crypto. But do they actually create tradable edge?
Saylor just sold 3,588 BTC for $216 million. "Never sell" is officially a retired slogan
BTC has had 5 consecutive green closes. Relief rally or the start of something different?
The Wall Street Hijack: Decoding Bitcoin's Post-ETF On-Chain Reality.
There's no futures market, no ETF, no index for Helium-3. I just found out someone built one.
Why Litecoin is always left out, despite being one of the big 3 from the start, stable as ETH through all these years, and one of the oldest coins out there?
Im going to yolo 5k into bitcoin today. My friend says buy ETF instead but I don’t listen to him.
The 13-day ETF outflow streak finally broke, dip buy or trap
[SERIOUS] The Bitcoin Harmonic Time Model: Projections and Phase Geometry up to 2030
Deep Dive: The Unified Harmonic Time Model – Mapping Bitcoin’s Macro Cycles and Post-ETF Ranges Through Pure Time Geometry (2012–2030)
The Geometry of Time: Why the Post-ETF Regime Is Compressing Bitcoin Cycles (Full Mathematical Breakdown & Projections)
How are you positioning in the current market environment?
BTCUSD drop till 35k. Is it Possible?
BitcoinVN Shop and ₿itCoffee Team Up to Establish Da Nang Showroom
S&P cracking, Iran deal dead, Fed hawkish. A bloodbath is coming and this is the most exciting development of the decade
Am I the Only One That See's An Unreal Buying Opportunity Right Now???
Blackrock’s IBIT Loses $182 Million as Bitcoin ETF Outflows Reach $114 Million
Update: From wanting 100% BTC to looking for a balance Thoughts?
Ripple Advances MiCA Expansion as XRP ETF Inflows Top $200 Million
Ripple Advances MiCA Expansion as XRP ETF Inflows Top $200 Million
Ripple Advances MiCA Expansion as XRP ETF Inflows Top $200 Million
Quietest crypto session in months. The ETF outflow data makes it harder to call.
Mentions
Hardware wallets are so 2019 🤷 If you're in it for the price action and the money and not the tech just by the ETF Not only will Fidelity or Schwab or Black Rock or SIPC make good if your ETF gets hacked... You can also make 1 to 2% on your money every month by writing covered calls which is a substantial amount of money 😮 But if you're already so rich that you don't care about 2% or if you just anti-money then ignore this post
Hey. CoinRabbit team here. An account takeover matters in both cases, but the exit paths are not identical. With custodial Bitcoin, an attacker may be able to withdraw the asset to an external blockchain address. Once confirmed, that transfer is generally irreversible. With an ETF, the attacker would first have to sell the position and then move the cash through the brokerage and banking system, where account-name checks, settlement periods and withdrawal restrictions may create additional barriers. That does not make every ETF account automatically safer. Both options still depend on account security, recovery procedures and the provider’s controls. Custodial crypto additionally requires questions about reserves, asset reuse and authorization of external addresses. CoinRabbit is also a custodial crypto platform, which is why we use 2FA and passkeys together with withdrawal address whitelisting. The useful comparison is not simply “ETF versus app,” but what an attacker could actually do after gaining access and which controls would interrupt that path.
HWW and ETF. I use Coinomi for a hot wallet when I need to do transactions
Everyone stressing over BTC getting rejected at $65k again needs to log off and get a coffee. With oil surging past $81 and CPI data dropping later this week, institutional spot ETF demand is just getting swallowed by macro sellers. I'm just leaving limit orders at $61k and touching grass today. Anyone actually trading this chop?
If you are a hardcore bitcoiner I think you should self-custody. It's one of the major selling points of bitcoin. If everyone used their bitcoin through a 3rd party, it would be far to easy to capture. That said, I think there's a larger and larger portion of bitcoin holders, that don't really care about the underlying asset, and mostly see it as an investment. If this is you, the I think a 3rd party custodian is a valid option. Yes, your chances of loss are higher compared to a proper self-custody setup, but if you're going to half ass your self-custody solution, you might be worse off. I would imagine you would be better off with an ETF compared to an exchange, but that's mostly me guessing. I find it quite scary that most of them use Coinbase as a custodian. They've become quite the honey pot, and I'm not sure what the ETF providers would do if Coinbase lost access or the bitcoin was stolen. Also, make sure it's not easy for a 3rd party to access your exchange account. Remove the phone verification and add 2FA. You can also use hardware security keys like yubikey, but that introduces additional risk if you lose them.
As mentioned i use a major exchange where i dont feel this should be a main concern and resonate with the core principle of being able to trade it no matter where i go and dont feel an ETF serves that purpose but also dont know much about them so am willing to learn otherwise
Two things could happen to your coins at the exchange. The business owner can rug pull you, or a hacker can login with your password and drain your account before you can call the customer service. If you really need someone else to hold your coins, ETF may be better.
Exactly. Nice resume. All we shall look at is, first before anything else, does they plan to print money to debase the national debt. Yes. Then when? Then is the legislations, laws, support from Big money, clarity act is something.. but even without it. We still go up like moonshot if the last correction hit the reset has they wishes. Recovery will be spectacular. Can't happen without a finale. One last fireworks. And how they time it. With the flood's gates of newly minted stablescoin and $$.. is the true how fast will the recovery be. Just wait and see. Macro economics is financing BTC rise.. nothing else. That last cycle was lame because of how adoption been. And because not the same players were in the arena.. ETF and MSTR, versus gamblers over leveraged.. whales has been made in 2021.. now they ain't acting the same. They adapted to who is the biggest fish in the ponds. And it's not them, for most of them. 800 000 BTC all to one single entity. The same for ETF. Even bigger if you group them .. ok, it's just 20% of the 21 millions total supply. But don't forget the 4 millions BTC that never have moved and are estimated lost. Market volatility adapted .. these big entities are feeling bigger since we got some deads account loaded. In % of the whole. They understood that years ago. They control and manipulate BTC. Just by a lack of organization on our side. We totally still can GameStop the chart against them 🤣 only most of us don't share the same language.
Use a 20 character passphrase or just buy the ETF
Suggested Strike, River or Swan are good options. Anyway, congrats on the move, it's never too late, [despite new people thinking otherwise](https://old.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/rskpuf/i_have_only_600_bitcoinsi_missed_the_bus/). ONLY INVEST MONEY YOU CAN AFFORD TO LOSE. Invest in your knowledge, learn about Bitcoin as much as you can. The Bitcoin Standard book is a must read. So is Broken Money by Lyn Alden. Also, **don't reply any DMs**, emails, private messages on other social media, promising to buy Bitcoin from them or get rich quick by investing into some website. They all are scammers. Even the hot Asian chick, he's a scammer too. **Price wise, nobody knows what the price will be tomorrow, next week or at the end of the year.** **Try "Bitcoin ONLY" strategy for at least the first 210,000 block cycle**, you'll sleep much better. Newcomers lose so much money, holding tokens just because someone on YT told them to. If you don't like losing money in [failed coins](https://www.coingecko.com/research/publications/how-many-cryptocurrencies-failed), avoid. DCA is probably the best approach. Once a week works best for me, but I'm getting paid weekly. This [DCA calculator](https://21vox.com/dca-calculator) might help to decide what will work best for you. In a few years, even $10 dollars a month can make a massive difference. This [DCA blog](https://er-bybitcoin.com/) is pretty interesting too and compares buying bitcoin VS stocks. Now, don't buy some fake bitcoin at a spot ETF place or similar, **get the real thing** that you can withdraw anytime you want. Register at a proper exchange and buy real Bitcoin. Any of these will do [https://bitcoin-only.com/get-bitcoin](https://bitcoin-only.com/get-bitcoin) Install (or buy - in case you're getting Bitcoin in Thousands of $) one or more of these wallets. **Good wallet choices:** [https://blockstream.com/app/](https://blockstream.com/app/) \- Top Security Features, Open Source and Non-Custodial [https://bluewallet.io](https://bluewallet.io/) \- excellent, easy to use wallet, Open Source and Non-Custodial [https://www.sparrowwallet.com](https://www.sparrowwallet.com) - top desktop wallet [https://electrum.org](https://electrum.org/) \- Solid choice, Open Source and Non-Custodial, one of the oldest and most trusted Bitcoin Wallets. I prefer the desktop version but it works on mobile too. **Lightning wallets** to consider (cheaper and faster transactions, great for small amounts): [https://phoenix.acinq.co/](https://phoenix.acinq.co/) \- Phoenix - very good wallet, uses Tor for extra privacy, easy for anyone new [https://blixtwallet.github.io/](https://blixtwallet.github.io/) \- Blixt - great UI, fast and clean. The app runs a full LND node on your phone and you have the ability to easily open channels to whatever nodes you like. [https://zeusln.com/](https://zeusln.com/) Zeus - impressive wallet with many features, can even generate Nostr keys [https://breez.technology](https://breez.technology/) \- Breez - excellent POS for small business owners as well as integrated Bitrefill Note: Breez does also a hybrid liquid/LN wallet called Misty Breez - the sats being on liquid means no need for channels although the payments take a few extra seconds. You'll also can get a free customable LN address. While talking about hybrid wallets, there's also Aqua Wallet although not IMHO as good as Misty Breez. There are also custodial LN wallet but I would honestly avoid using them because you have to trust the wallet operator not to steal your money. Their only advantage is that they are incredibly easy to use, although it might cost you big one day. To keep up to date with spending wallets, visit r/TheLightningNetwork at least once a while and perhaps r/RGB in the future. **Hardware Wallets** (to store larger amounts): [Trezor](https://trezor.io/) \- Easy to use, no matter how new in Bitcoin you're. If you can afford it, opt for Safe 7 (**air-gapped**) and use the Bitcoin only firmware as it's safer than a multi coin software. [BitBox02](https://bitbox.swiss/bitbox02/bitcoin-only/) - another great little device, opt for the more secure Bitcoin ONLY version (less coins = less code = less chance for a hidden bug or a backdoor). Sadly, this device is **not air-gapped**. [Jade](https://blockstream.com/jade) - air gapped, fully open source, Bitcoin only, great features. There's a newer version called Jade Plus, it has much better camera and overall is a better build. I would go stateless instead of using their servers. You can even [build it on your own](https://github.com/Blockstream/jade/), if you feel adventurous. [Seedsigner](https://github.com/SeedSigner/seedsigner) - another DIY, fully open source, air gapped, Bitcoin only hardware wallet, not for you if you're just starting up but something to consider later. [Krux wallet](https://selfcustody.github.io/krux/) - one more DIY hardware device, I love this one for many reasons. Similar to Seedsigner, it's fully open source, air gapped, Bitcoin only hardware wallet, that is not for you right now if you're just starting up, but something to consider at a later stage and/or to up the security of your bitcoin. There's also Ledger, but I wouldn't recommend it as it's not fully open source, keep and already leaked customers' details, recently said they're capable of sending customers' keys out just with a firmware update, making is an expensive hot wallet. The opposite of what you want from a cold wallet. **Stay away**, save yourself a headache in the future. The same goes for many other hardware wallets that are too new or filled with too much of unnecessary shitcoin code. Stay away. There's also ColdCard, great features but recently had a massive duckup, I would wait until all of their code is fully open source, preferably rewritten by the community before touching it. Whatever wallet you'll decide to buy, purchase DIRECTLY from the manufacturer, no eBay, no Amazon. Make sure the device is NOT preset, and you will generate your own seed words. Write them down on any piece of paper as well as the receiving address. Now wipe the wallet and generate a new wallet. If the seed words are different from the first set, you're safe to use it. Find an option to set a passphrase and use it. This will boost the security to another level. Never store the seed words and passphrase together. Use a different medium if possible. If somebody finds both, they'll be able to steal your coin. This little device will hold the keys to your money, that's the reason why you have to be a bit more careful. Also, no worries, if it breaks, you can replace it - as long as you keep your seed words and passphrase(s) safe. Welcome to the rabbit hole and don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions anytime during your Bitcoin journey. Also, [check the sidebar](https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/about) that's filled with lots of great info and if you have any questions, visit r/BitcoinBeginners or r/Bitcoin and look for the answers.
They don't directly own any BTC as far as I know of, they do offer a BTC ETF for investors.
Yeah I agree, but in this situation, i think it might be better to just buy an ETF based on Bitcoin. Anyone can go self-custody, but if they do not want to spend time to mitigate the risks, then is going to be risky.
If Bitcoin literally disappeared tomorrow, ~$1.3T of market value would disappear with it. ETF investors, public companies with BTC treasuries, miners, exchanges, custodians, lenders, derivatives traders and millions of holders would notice immediately. Entire businesses and balance sheets would be impaired overnight. Would your local supermarket stop working? No. But “civilization would continue” is an extraordinarily low bar for claiming an asset has no relevance. Apple, Microsoft or basically everything else you invest in could disappear tomorrow and most humans could still eat their breakfast.
Congrats on the move, it's never too late, [despite new people thinking otherwise](https://old.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/rskpuf/i_have_only_600_bitcoinsi_missed_the_bus/). ONLY INVEST MONEY YOU CAN AFFORD TO LOSE. Invest in your knowledge, learn about Bitcoin as much as you can. The Bitcoin Standard book is a must read. So is Broken Money by Lyn Alden. Also, **don't reply any DMs**, emails, private messages on other social media, promising to buy Bitcoin from them or get rich quick by investing into some website. They all are scammers. Even the hot Asian chick, he's a scammer too. **Price wise, nobody knows what the price will be tomorrow, next week or at the end of the year.** **Try "Bitcoin ONLY" strategy for at least the first 210,000 block cycle**, you'll sleep much better. Newcomers lose so much money, holding tokens just because someone on YT told them to. If you don't like losing money in [failed coins](https://www.coingecko.com/research/publications/how-many-cryptocurrencies-failed), avoid. DCA is probably the best approach. Once a week works best for me, but I'm getting paid weekly. This [DCA calculator](https://21vox.com/dca-calculator) might help to decide what will work best for you. In a few years, even $10 dollars a month can make a massive difference. This [DCA blog](https://er-bybitcoin.com/) is pretty interesting too and compares buying bitcoin VS stocks. Now, don't buy some fake bitcoin at a spot ETF place or similar, **get the real thing** that you can withdraw anytime you want. Register at a proper exchange and buy real Bitcoin. Any of these will do [https://bitcoin-only.com/get-bitcoin](https://bitcoin-only.com/get-bitcoin) Install (or buy - in case you're getting Bitcoin in Thousands of $) one or more of these wallets. **Good wallet choices:** [https://blockstream.com/app/](https://blockstream.com/app/) \- Top Security Features, Open Source and Non-Custodial [https://bluewallet.io](https://bluewallet.io/) \- excellent, easy to use wallet, Open Source and Non-Custodial [https://www.sparrowwallet.com](https://www.sparrowwallet.com) - top desktop wallet [https://electrum.org](https://electrum.org/) \- Solid choice, Open Source and Non-Custodial, one of the oldest and most trusted Bitcoin Wallets. I prefer the desktop version but it works on mobile too. **Lightning wallets** to consider (cheaper and faster transactions, great for small amounts): [https://phoenix.acinq.co/](https://phoenix.acinq.co/) \- Phoenix - very good wallet, uses Tor for extra privacy, easy for anyone new [https://blixtwallet.github.io/](https://blixtwallet.github.io/) \- Blixt - great UI, fast and clean. The app runs a full LND node on your phone and you have the ability to easily open channels to whatever nodes you like. [https://zeusln.com/](https://zeusln.com/) Zeus - impressive wallet with many features, can even generate Nostr keys [https://breez.technology](https://breez.technology/) \- Breez - excellent POS for small business owners as well as integrated Bitrefill Note: Breez does also a hybrid liquid/LN wallet called Misty Breez - the sats being on liquid means no need for channels although the payments take a few extra seconds. You'll also can get a free customable LN address. While talking about hybrid wallets, there's also Aqua Wallet although not IMHO as good as Misty Breez. There are also custodial LN wallet but I would honestly avoid using them because you have to trust the wallet operator not to steal your money. Their only advantage is that they are incredibly easy to use, although it might cost you big one day. To keep up to date with spending wallets, visit r/TheLightningNetwork at least once a while and perhaps r/RGB in the future. **Hardware Wallets** (to store larger amounts): [Trezor](https://trezor.io/) \- Easy to use, no matter how new in Bitcoin you're. If you can afford it, opt for Safe 7 (**air-gapped**) and use the Bitcoin only firmware as it's safer than a multi coin software. [BitBox02](https://bitbox.swiss/bitbox02/bitcoin-only/) - another great little device, opt for the more secure Bitcoin ONLY version (less coins = less code = less chance for a hidden bug or a backdoor). Sadly, this device is **not air-gapped**. [Jade](https://blockstream.com/jade) - air gapped, fully open source, Bitcoin only, great features. There's a newer version called Jade Plus, it has much better camera and overall is a better build. I would go stateless instead of using their servers. You can even [build it on your own](https://github.com/Blockstream/jade/), if you feel adventurous. [Seedsigner](https://github.com/SeedSigner/seedsigner) - another DIY, fully open source, air gapped, Bitcoin only hardware wallet, not for you if you're just starting up but something to consider later. [Krux wallet](https://selfcustody.github.io/krux/) - one more DIY hardware device, I love this one for many reasons. Similar to Seedsigner, it's fully open source, air gapped, Bitcoin only hardware wallet, that is not for you right now if you're just starting up, but something to consider at a later stage and/or to up the security of your bitcoin. There's also Ledger, but I wouldn't recommend it as it's not fully open source, keep and already leaked customers' details, recently said they're capable of sending customers' keys out just with a firmware update, making is an expensive hot wallet. The opposite of what you want from a cold wallet. **Stay away**, save yourself a headache in the future. The same goes for many other hardware wallets that are too new or filled with too much of unnecessary shitcoin code. Stay away. There's also ColdCard, great features but recently had a massive duckup, I would wait until all of their code is fully open source, preferably rewritten by the community before touching it. Whatever wallet you'll decide to buy, purchase DIRECTLY from the manufacturer, no eBay, no Amazon. Make sure the device is NOT preset, and you will generate your own seed words. Write them down on any piece of paper as well as the receiving address. Now wipe the wallet and generate a new wallet. If the seed words are different from the first set, you're safe to use it. Find an option to set a passphrase and use it. This will boost the security to another level. Never store the seed words and passphrase together. Use a different medium if possible. If somebody finds both, they'll be able to steal your coin. This little device will hold the keys to your money, that's the reason why you have to be a bit more careful. Also, no worries, if it breaks, you can replace it - as long as you keep your seed words and passphrase(s) safe. Welcome to the rabbit hole and don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions anytime during your Bitcoin journey. Also, [check the sidebar](https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/about) that's filled with lots of great info and if you have any questions, visit r/BitcoinBeginners or r/Bitcoin and look for the answers.
This institution has many different owners/investors so it's more like an ETF at this point. 4% of a global asset it also a very low concentration comparing to other assets.
Literally anyone who wants exposure to Bitcoin can just buy an ETF. It's definitely not "early".
Exactly, but the moon boys never explain that small detail to the retail crowd. It's retail and hedge funds are use the ETF's for trading. Large institutions never bought into crypto,
Speak for yourself.. my IBIT ETF is 100% covered 🤷
100mil sold Same day BTC ETF purchases were 800mil Move on
> In the cryptocurrency space, MSTR is the last place you should be putting your money If argue it goes: Bitcoin (self custody), Bitcoin ETF, Bitcoin (exchange), MSTR, STRK, Ethereum, all other shitcoins. In that order. Yes MSTR sucks, but the average person will make so much more money in MSTR than any of the shitcoins they "iNvESt" in
Cycle timing looks compelling, but institutional ETF inflows changed how liquidity flows compared to past cycles. To evaluate whether now is a good entry window, I usually look at on-chain metrics like the MVRV Z-Score to see if price is near realized value rather than relying strictly on the calendar...
Most of us are aware of the risks in self-custody Tell us some of the risks of having an ETF on Robinhood
Cycle timing looks compelling, but institutional ETF inflows changed how liquidity flows compared to past cycles. To evaluate whether now is a good entry window, I usually look at on-chain metrics like the MVRV Z-Score to see if price is near realized value rather than relying strictly on the calendar.
This saddens/infuriates me. While I have not lost anything in this catastrophe, I took huge losses in the stock market in my mid 20’s and did not think I would ever recover. You have to get back in at some point, now is as good a time as any as we still remain near a cycle low. Put in what you can, when you can. Look into Seedsigner, Jade plus from Blockstream, Trezor. Multi-sig if you can, only go up to your abilities, or just buy the ETF’s. It will take time, but you will recover.
ETFs are fine unless you're some conspiracy kook. I have almost as much in my Bitcoin ETF as I do in my cold wallet, difference being the ETF is in a tax-free account so I won't be bent over for capital gains taxes when I go to sell.
This may not help but many years back I too suffered a loss. Nearly 12 BTC gone to someone who installed a key logger on my PC. It was an $11k loss at the time. Instead of resigning myself to Bitcoin I got a hardware wallet and repurchased the lost coins as soon as I was able. Those coins ended up costing me nearly 2x what the lost batch did. But the years passed and my investment went on to eclipse the loss. Today I would advise the same except I would suggest you consider an ETF or custody at Fidelity. Those options did not exist for me back then.
Problem in these threads is that a lot of people try to downplay the risk and always blame the user for making some kind of mistake and that this would never happen if they didn't make the mistake Well that's what makes self custody so dangerous as it's easy to make mistakes 🤷 And for some reason when everyone talks about keeping it on an exchange or buying the ETF it gets downvoted. LOL🤣 If everyone's ETFs got hacked they would have to put up with all those risky pesky bankers from BlackRock and Schwab calling them and bothering them to try to give them their money back
The biggest change isn’t the price, it’s legitimacy and access. Five years ago Bitcoin was still largely a retail/crypto-native asset. Today US spot ETFs from BlackRock, Fidelity etc. hold roughly 1.2 million BTC, close to 6% of total supply, giving institutions exposure through normal brokerage, custody and portfolio infrastructure. Institutional adoption is no longer theoretical either. 13F filings now show exposure from asset managers, hedge funds, pension funds, university endowments and sovereign wealth funds. Even after a rough Q1 2026, professional investors still reported about $17.8B in US Bitcoin ETF holdings. Politically, the shift is arguably even bigger: the US created a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve in 2025, while comprehensive market-structure legislation (CLARITY) has passed the House and cleared Senate Banking, although it still isn’t law. So I’d describe Bitcoin today as having moved from “Can this survive?” to “How deeply does this become integrated into the global financial system?” The protocol itself hasn’t changed much. The world is adapting to it.
ETF’s killed the crypto market, perhaps irreversably
Thank you so much! It seems like the ETFs are insured which at least offers some safety, for a fee of course. I have no intention to self custody and it looks like the general consensus is that robinhood is not trustworthy so I will just go the ETF route, and the fees are not too bad unless it ends up being a large amount of equity.
Neither answer as an absolute is the right one. The smart move is to divide up one's holdings so there is never a 100% risk of loss. Or put it in an ETF with a large heavily-regulated brokerage like Fidelity, Blackrock, etc, especially if investing with retirement holdings.
You are a fool for believing this. Please do some research before spouting off. "Exchange hacks dominate in total dollars stolen by a wide margin—multiple orders of magnitude larger for confirmed third-party remote thefts of significant size." We are talking 8.5 BILLION PLUS lost to exchanges vs an extremely rare fringe case hardware hack. Coldcard is one of the first significant cases of a hardware exploit. If you think any of these exchanges are too big to fail, thats on you. Again, if youre too incompetent for self custody, stay home and buy an ETF or something. You dont belong on the blockchain.
Good questions. If you hold cryptocurrency at Robinhood Crypto, you're trusting Robinhood Crypto to custody your bitcoins. You own actual bitcoins that you are free to withdraw if Robinhood Crypto permits it. Your risks are account compromise or Robinhood Crypto insolvency. If you hold a bitcoin ETF, you don't quite own actual bitcoin. Your primary risk is that the custodian the ETF issuer is using loses the coins. The ETF does not insulate you from the realities of holding cryptocurrency. If the ETF issuer loses the cryptocurrency, you're still left holding the bag. You're still at risk of account compromise, although potentially to a slightly lesser extent depending on what brokerage you're using, and somewhat less at risk of brokerage insolvency because the equities you own in your brokerage account typically are not part of a bankruptcy estate (in most cases of cryptocurrency exchange insolvency, customer cryptocurrency balances were part of the bankruptcy estate) and because of SIPC protection. It's also important to consider fees: I would expect Robinhood Crypto to charge you more for buying and selling, but they won't charge you anything for holding, whereas the ETF won't cost as much to trade but will have an annual fee.
You'll have to pay the taxes on your sale either way. If you don't care about self custody, the ETF will be fine. Maybe in the future we'll see in-kind redemption for retail.
Opensource, or something that can be hold accountable, like an ETF if you are not tech educated
The only work around for the ETFs are when you put them in the retirement fund for tax advantages. I dont know if I will ever self custody but thanks for mentioning the tax aspects. The ETF has maintainence fees and tax implications so there is a downside. I guess the safety of the ETF comes with a price. My biggest concern is storing crypto long term on the exchange. Most people say that it should be moved to cold storage and not left on the exchange. Being that I dont want to self custody at the moment, ill just have to go the ETF route and pay the taxes later which will suck but its whatever. Thanks again for your insight!
As i said, I don't own any ETF's so I don't follow the space that closely. One trade-off is that if you want to self custody later, with the ETF's you'll have to sell, pay tax, and then buy the bitcoin. By holding bitcoin on an exchange/app you can always just move them to self custody without paying any taxes, as there was no sales event, if they allow you to withdraw your bitcoin, that is. I don't know if there's any workaround for the ETF's. I think I heard about some service where you could avoid it, but I haven't looked into it.
Thank you! It definitely seems like storing cyrpto on the robinhood exchange might be too risky. I will be going the ETF route.
A better DCA would be to spread out among a few months If you're only interested in the price action just buy the ETF it's a lot safer and as a added bonus you could make one to 2% every month just writing calls on it 😮
Long list of reasons. But to summarize, risk of custody vs risk of a broker account, and get benefit of self custody vs the benefits of an ETF. Basically enjoying the benefits of both, but not putting all eggs in one.
Wow that sucks. What is the good reason? Did they suspect fraud? And it seems like they froze both your brokerage and your crypto exchange, so if that happened to me, the ETF would also be frozen because I would be using robinhood as my brokerage for the ETF as well. It seems like the freezing is why most ppl hate robinhood.
Why would you buy an ETH etf and also ETH? Surely just choose one or the other... And even then, why an ETF when you can gain direct exposure?
If you decided to go with ETF make sure to diversify. like spread your investments among IBIT, FBTC , ARKB tickers.
25% actual BTC 30% BTC ETF 10% actual ETH 15% ETH ETF 10% BTC perp long 5% ETH perp long 5% ADA perp long
Lol im mostly a long term investor but I get it. When everyone is trying to make trades they can freeze it and you cant make the trades you want. Im definitely going to get the ETF because I dont want to get a self custody wallet. And I am realizing the robinhood exchange is not insured and they can freeze us out during high volatility periods.
Thank you so much! Ive been trying to find YouTube videos that explain this and no one really mentions this. They only talk about ETF vs self custody. Im now learning that storing the crypto on the exchange is not safe due to lack of regulations and insurance protections. I will definitely be going the ETF route since im not interested in storing it in a self custody wallet.
I would trust Fidelity or Schwab and a BTC ETF before I would trust Robinhood anything much less Robinhood Crypto. I would go ETF with the SIPC peace of mind or buy on Strike etc and self custody. I wouldnt half ass this. Just look at all the crypto custodial platforms that have failed.
Your instinct on holding both is better than the reasoning most of this thread is using. Notice what actually failed here. It wasn’t a stolen device, it wasn’t phishing, it wasn’t your operational discipline. Key generation itself was weak, silently, for years, in a way no user could have inspected or tested. That’s a supply-chain and firmware risk, and it’s a category most people never priced in because the whole appeal of the device was that it removed risk. Which is why replacing one hardware wallet with a different hardware wallet isn’t diversification. It’s the same failure mode with a different logo — you’re just betting that this manufacturer’s engineering held where the other one didn’t, and you have no way to check that either. What you’re describing with an ETF alongside self-custody is different, and it’s the part worth thinking about. Those two fail for unrelated reasons: one is exposed to counterparty, custodian and regulatory risk, the other to firmware and your own operational error. Neither is safer in the abstract. But they’re unlikely to break on the same day for the same cause, and after this week that’s the property actually worth having.
ETF garbage is what killed it. Brilliant plan to create bagholders holding about 10.000 different "tokens" each with 5-50 M in marketcap.... $500 billion in "dead" money easy. Glad I got out with a little in cash profits back in early 25....After losing 75% of the initial profits. I would be at -90% of original purchasing price if I had HODLed...jeezzz. So? This is so dead for a reason
Proposed BTC holdings: 10% in a cold wallet w/multisig or 2FA 10% left on a reputable exchange 40% in one ETF using one custodian 40% in another using another custodian This minimizes the possibility you'll get Cold Carded. Even if you do and it's a complete loss, you still have 90% of your portfolio. Ditto if your exchange goes under. ETF's aren't guaranteed but I'd bet good $ Fidelity, Vanguard, Schwab etc employ better (and far more) cyber-security nerds than any cold wallet. Let's look at Fidelity. They're the largest custodian in the US, with over 17 TRILLION assets under management. There's at least a CHANCE they'd make people whole. Otherwise, why would people keep their money with them? They'd forever be known as the custodian who got hacked and people lost everything. Conversely if they stepped up and made people whole, I bet they'd see a LOT of new customers. And few, if any existing customers leaving. Just my opinion
You're right. The only option for storage in 2026 is some startup with 3.5 million in revenue and 5 employees. You _have_ to use coldcard because your favorite podcaster told you to. Nevermind Trezor, Ledger, Coinbase, the ETF, MSTR. When it comes to self custody for substantial funds, the only real choice is to go off the beaten path and to use something a bootstrapped startup made with low funding. The podcast cold storage startup was the smartest choice. The only choice, when you think about it.
Considering crypto is 1% only of all money invested globally so it is advised to own not more than 10% of your portfolio in crypto. Everything else in world ETF or into judicious stock picking.
Im sure thats true for you and no judgement here man, but we have different likes and interests, values, and priorities. I like this stuff. I listen to podcasts about it when im in the car. I spend my off time reading about it. Im a nerd. You might say an amateur woodworker is way over complicating his life when he builds his own bookshelf at great cost in money, time and effort, instead of just getting a perfectly good free one from marketplace same-day, there are tons in there. But he likes doing it. His interest wasn't just to own a bookshelf, it was to build one, and to learn as much as possible while doing so. Of course there's an easier way, a prepackaged alternative, and I wouldn't discourage you from choosing that or judge you for it, by all means. But I like doing this. Im interested in doing my own thing, it brings me joy, and learning about it is engaging and entertaining and honestly thrilling much of the time. That's most of the reason im here, writing these long as comments. I love talking about it. I value self reliance. Handing over my money to some bank or brokerage for safekeeping because its easier than doing it myself is not a tradeoff I'm keen to make. I value autonomy. Asking blackrock or whoever to open an account for me and then to do this or that with my assets is odious to me when I can create my own keys and broadcast my own transactions without anyone else being involved at all. I value freedom. I much prefer having the ability to send any amount of my coins to anyone anywhere anytime for any reason than to be constrained in all those aspects by the arbitrary rules of an issuer. We likely have similar ones, but my priorities include things that you probably don't care much about, though I couldn't say for sure, it just sounds like it. We both likely have wealth accumulation pretty close to the tippy top of our lists of priorities, and exposure to bitcoin's price appreciation is therefore something we both want. Your ETFs and my self custodied coins both serve that priority very effectively. But another item very high on my list of priorities is working towards the separation of money and state, and the transition to a global bitcoin standard. Holding BTC in self custody is how I serve these priorities. Holding an ETF is how you work against them. So again, no judgement to you man, by all means, get your ETFs and enjoy your life. This is how I enjoy mine.
BTC absorbed a ridiculous amount of bad news this year: war, the oil shock, a hawkish Fed, 5%+ long bonds, record ETF outflows, Strategy selling below cost, and massive capital flowing into AI, semiconductors and related infrastructure. Yet it held the range. Now oil is substantially lower, long yields are easing, the dollar is softer, rate hike expectations are coming down, ETF inflows are starting to return, and BTC is still sitting around the mid-$60Ks. That doesn’t mean it’s about to moon, and it’s not investment advice. It just means the “Bitcoin is dead” narrative doesn’t really match what the market has actually absorbed. It survived almost everything that should have crushed it. Now the interesting question is what happens if some of those headwinds finally start turning into tailwinds.
ETF inflows every day this week! 🤩
Too much...just way too much. You are way over complicating your life unnecessarily. Lots of added security I'm sure, but at what point do you stop? No doubt, you will still pine over your how protected you are indefinitely for no reason when you could be enjoying your life instead. Not that I necessarily "like and subscribe", but a .25%/yr ETF pretty much lets you move on without worrying about jackshit anymore.
Changing the world for the better through Bitcoin is a 50 year+ battle and were only on year 17. If this just becomes an ETF dominated thing and self custody goes away, Bitcoin didn't win. In 30 years you'll look back at this bump in the road and say that it was worth it to self custody
You could use a password manager... Or just buy the ETF. But I guess your brokerage account will need a password too, oh no...
Happy to help, I recently sold all of my BTC from my wallet and moved it to the Fidelity FBTC ETF so had to follow those same steps.
Is that insurance they provide through a 3rd party? Do you pay a premium to use their service? Does this extend to their ETF? (I think they are one of the few providers that does not use Coinbase as a custodian). I'm just curious, because I doubt they'll be able to pay out of pocket, so they would have to use a 3rd party for insurance, and they surely want a to get paid, so Fidelity would have to charge a premium.
Depends really. If you aren't planning using BTC for buying things on a routine basis, then an ETF is fine for most. Especially for those who have no idea how to be their own bank.
Anyone looking to buy a considerable amount of crypto as a store of value these days is far better off buying an ETF like IBIT. No sense putting your money at risk with self custody especially if one has no clue what proper security looks like. The learning curve was already steep and it just now got steeper with this entropy bs.
This is last part you mentioned with complaints about Coinkite going back to 2021 is EXACTLY what I've been talking about that the other poster was completely ignoring. I've been trying to find it to link it, but this past weekend there was a youtuber with a video from late 2021 or so talking about this that was getting a ton of attention after the Cold Card hack. As you said, the company would have heard about this AND ignored it. I'm expecting there to be a lot with this case coming out over the next several months, so it will be interesting. As for my comments about the masses not utilizing self custody, I still stand by that. I'm not saying people should or should not rely on tradfi institutions for their crypto holdings, but the reality is that when this starts becoming more mainstream and regulated this is going to happen naturally. You are going to have a bunch of people at say Charles Schwab or whatever institution with investment portfolios and they are advised to allocate x% into a BTC ETF. That's exactly what's going to happen, doesn't matter if you or I agree with it or not. The reality is that there is a risk with self custody, and the biggest and most common risk is people screwing up the process somehow to where they get locked out of their funds, lose their seeds or expose them to the internet. There are plenty of stories you can find across the internet about this where someone downloads a fake app that asks for them to type in their seeds or where they kept their seeds on a file of some sort on their phone or computer. Again, I'm not saying that people should avoid self custody and utilize tradfi institutions for their holdings, but the reality is that most will go this route. In fact, especially after this Cold Card incident. This Cold Card hack while awful only affected a very tiny number of actual wallets/addresses, but the biggest ramifications of this is people being scared away from self custody and questioning their security measures. Even I've been reflecting upon this and thinking about getting a 3rd wallet and either utilizing a very strong passphrase or even taking the time to learn how to use multi sig. I used to see a simple passphrase as a measure to take in case someone were to get a physical copy of my actual keys/seeds, which would be difficult in itself, but after this Cold Card incident it's made me reevaluate.
lol wdym? ColdCard was chilled by everyone as the top best way to self custody. Don’t come acting like people who used it were wreckless or dumb or ill informed. Any other more complicated wallet is just out of reach for the average holder. For me SC just failed to democratize and get safe and easy enough after all those years. I tried it, but swapped it for ETF now (for ease of use and tax incentives) and I am so glad I did.
Planes crash all the time. Do people stop flying? No. Why? Because the crash was caused by pilot error, mechanical fault, weather etc and NOT a flaw in flying itself. Crashes are studied and improvements/corrections are made. As a result, flying is safer today than it ever has been. Bitcoin did not fail. On the contrary, it succeeded. The price went UP and will keep doing so. Why? The network still works. Transactions still process. Institutional adoption continues to accelerate. I do agree having your life savings in ANY 1 place/investment is asking for it. But you can self-custody with other safeguards, leave some on a reputable exchange and invest the bulk in ETF's using various custodians. To indict an entire asset class just because ONE cold wallet company was negligent is.... wrong. But I won't stop you from sticking with "safe" investments. There are still people that write snail mail letters, vs email. The world has passed them by, they just don't realize it.
I don't know what everybody's aversion is to just holding the ETF I mean isn't everybody in for the price action? To those that are reading this that are in for the tech, I apologize How financially illiterate to someone have to be to think that it's safer in a wallet than it is at an institution like Schwab or fidelity and that black rock would not make good on your holdings when THEY don't roll the dice 🤷 And the most obvious play is that you get to write covered calls on your ETF holdings generating one to 2% every month 😮 How much do you have to hate money in order to leave it in your cold storage where it earns 0 when you could be earning 2% monthly?
Also diversify! Hold two brands of cold wallets, maybe also some funds in CB or other exchanges and buy IBIT ETF
For those of you who still don't know how to be your own bank, buy the ETF instead please.
I was continuously called a moron by some of my BTC "friends" for buying one of the BTC ETFs instead of self custody. Since it tracks the price of BTC exactly, if BTC were ever to go to the moon, the ETF would track identically. I don't self custody my stock certificates either or self custody cash under the mattress. Perhaps all the BTC self custody maximalists owe people that wanted to participate in BTC via the ETFs an apology.
BTC absorbed a ridiculous amount of bad news this year: war, the oil shock, a hawkish Fed, 5%+ long bonds, record ETF outflows, Strategy selling below cost, and massive capital flowing into AI, semiconductors and related infrastructure. Yet it held the range. Now oil is substantially lower, long yields are easing, the dollar is softer, rate hike expectations are coming down, ETF inflows are starting to return, and BTC is still sitting around the mid-$60Ks. That doesn’t mean it’s about to moon, and it’s not investment advice. It just means the “Bitcoin is dead” narrative doesn’t really match what the market has actually absorbed. It survived almost everything that should have crushed it. Now the interesting question is what happens if some of those headwinds finally start turning into tailwinds.
BTC absorbed a ridiculous amount of bad news this year: war, the oil shock, a hawkish Fed, 5%+ long bonds, record ETF outflows, Strategy selling below cost, and massive capital flowing into AI, semiconductors and related infrastructure. Yet it held the range. Now oil is substantially lower, long yields are easing, the dollar is softer, rate hike expectations are coming down, ETF inflows are starting to return, and BTC is still sitting around the mid-$60Ks. That doesn’t mean it’s about to moon, and it’s not investment advice. It just means the “Bitcoin is dead” narrative doesn’t really match what the market has actually absorbed. It survived almost everything that should have crushed it. Now the interesting question is what happens if some of those headwinds finally start turning into tailwinds.
Add a passphrase or just buy the ETF. Buying the ETF much easier …..
yeah with my conspiracy hat on, in 2021 march was the same time when coldcard introduced that bug, the CTO talked about the retirement hack, and fidelity had their ETF.
Are they real BTC or an ETF? Can you withdraw your coins any time? What insurance (law?) covers digital assets like BTC?
That's what I did too. In fact, I bought 2 ETF's (using diff custodians) reasoning that the biggest risk was custodial failure/hacking/user error. Now we can add gross negligence to that list. Too many black swans IMO. At some point, one is going to occur.
Here's my take on self-custody: You should have some BTC in a hardware wallet, but only a small amount (say, 10%). The important part isn't how much is there, it's that you've built it should you ever really need it. Keep another 10% on a reputable exchange, 40% in an ETF using one custodian and 40% in another ETF using a different custodian. Presto - 80% of your BTC now enjoys institutional grade security. The .20 or .25 expense ratio you pay every year is money well spent IMO. Especially if you're no programmer/cyber-whiz. We are not there yet insofar as cold wallets. BTC itself takes a LOT of self-education and a cold wallet takes even more. Unless and until there's some recourse for a mistake, hack or coding error, self-custody will remain a fringe activity. We need better tools.
You are right to be hesitant. So... Put some BTC in a cold wallet (with 2FA or multi-sig), keep some on a reputable exchange and put the bulk into 2 different ETF's using at least 2 DIFFERENT custodians. Your BTC is now custodied across 4 different entities, 2 of which have institutional grade cyber-security. Fidelity, Blackrock employ entire departments of cyber-security folks and have over a trillion in assets to employ the best of them. This is their sole purpose. Nothing in life is 100%. If all of your eggs are in one basket, get out NOW before you too, have your life savings vaporized.
I think you're right that it's going to hurt self-custody in favor of people going to ETF's and diversification.
Yep im just using an ETF in my retirement account with my bank now, no more cold storage b.s: its giving me anxiety. Its just extra headache anyway.
Would advice not too overcomplicate things. A multi sign - at least how is fine today - is a nightmare. Maybe you know how is fine right, but would your inheritance know it? A really strong passphrase gives you a strong security and also a non technical person could easier understand it, if you write in your last will down, what they need and how to add the parcel together. If you know what you do, then you can additionally dice roll your own seedphrase if you don't trust the RNG of your HWW. Additionally I would advice not to put all eggs in one basket. Therefore if you have life changing money split if over a few hardware wallets (from different brands) and an ETF. Maybe that is unsexy, but the scenario that you would loose all in a single event, is close to zero. Stay safe.
Learning self-custody doesn't require more work than opening a tradfi investing account. Possibly even less. The setup I've described has little to no risk. Plus, any risk that it has will be inherent to an ETF, because the people managing the ETFs need to do Bitcoin custody anyway. ETFs are only backed by law. If the law turns against you, you are deprived of ownership. Bitcoin is backed by code and math. As long as you understand the rules, nobody can take it away from you. Most importantly, Bitcoin was created with one of its main principle being to avoid the opaque shenanigans of traditional finance. The sort of "creative" structuring that lead to the 2008 crisis. Bitcoin only works if every transaction is transparent, every coin is tracked, verifiably, through code, not legal promises. If you hide Bitcoin back behind private, unverifiable databases, you're basically doing fiat with extra steps.
All of this is a lot more work, requires much more knowledge and comes with its own types of risk. How exactly is this "infinitely safer than any ETF"? And yes, you are essentially outsourcing this with an ETF. Low fees and high security. How would you end up empty handed in a financial crisis? It's still 100% backed by real BTC, legally yours and separated from the issuer.
Self-custody has been around for as long as Bitcoin existed, and the best practices are well established and documented today. You just need to put in the time. Those who lose money are the ones who just wing it. They buy a shiny device thinking it'll protect them without understanding what's going on behind the scenes. 2-of-3 multisig, with mnemonics stamped on metal and geographically distributed. That's the way to do it for funds you can't afford to lose. Infinitely safer than any ETF. Going with the ETF is just paying someone else to do it for you, with the increased risk that you might end up empty-handed in the kind of traditional financial crisis Bitcoin was specifically created as a response to.
If you still have money to invest, invest in ETF or stock picking.in the real economy. Holding bitcoin just for the sake of holding bitcoin is nonsense. Having bitcoin to spend them later is fine. That was their main purpose.
This is impossible, because ETF (aka paper botcoin) make lower new price discovery... Something realistic is 150k or 180k or maybe 190k ... I'm waiting the oil shock, trump lies won’t resist reality. For now, US & friends are trying to act as if everything is fine and the blockade of Hormuz isn't causing anything at all—lol.
I completely agree that real network participants are necessary to keep its integrity. I'm saying the average user just wants to buy and hold anyway. For that purpose the ETF is the safer option
Diversification. BTC SP500 ETF ARISTOCRATES ...
Went to the Schwab ETF years ago and sleep well every night
If you had $1m in BTC, $2500 a year is the annual cost of this ETF. Up to the individual to decide if that’s worth it.
I completely understand and respect the ETF route. It’s a legitimate option that allows individuals to gain exposure to Bitcoin without directly holding the asset. While some OG bitcoiners maybe puking as they read your post, saying the importance of “not your key, not your coin,” it’s worth considering the benefits of using an ETF. Sleeping soundly knowing that your Bitcoin is securely held and insured in an ETF is an invaluable peace of mind that money cannot buy. While there are potential issues such as account freezes etc. But generally, the fact that you can easily contact a brokerage manager to resolve problems is a significant advantage. It’s worth noting that individuals who had their coins stolen from their cold card did not have the option of complaining to their brokerage manager.
Says who? You are free to buy and sell bitcoin as you please, but so are financial institutions who want to package it into ETF
ETF is only good for market exposure. Bitcoin completely loses its usefulness if you store it as an ETF. It's like buying a Ferrari, parking it in a temperature-controlled basement, and then handing the keys to your accountant. If all Bitcoins were bought as ETFs, there would be no point to Bitcoin and thus it would be worthless.
mainstream adoption can do the other things (coinbase, ETF, robinhood, cashapp, etc)
There isn't one right answer for everyone obviously. That's why I specified it. My point is that many are still practicing self custody while the ETF would be the better choice for them. Most people don't want to travel anywhere with their money.