🔥 Vitalik Buterin Labels Michael Saylor’s Comments as “Insane”
posted 23 Oct 2024
Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, criticized Microstrategy’s CEO Michael Saylor on the social platform X for his divisive comments about Bitcoin anarchists.
In an interview on October 21 with journalist Madison Reidy, Saylor suggested that BTC holders should place their trust in large regulated financial institutions offering Bitcoin custody.
This came after Saylor had previously outlined Microstrategy's ultimate vision of becoming a leading Bitcoin bank.
Saylor’s recent comments downplayed concerns commonly held by the crypto community, particularly fears that governments could seize digital assets stored with custodial services, calling such concerns unwarranted.
Curiously, this contradicts Saylor’s earlier advocacy for self-custody of Bitcoin, which he had previously described as the safer approach.
Saylor’s shift in tone has drawn sharp criticism from many in the crypto world, including Casa co-founder Jameson Lopp. Lopp stressed the dangers of centralized storage, such as the loss of participation in network governance, lack of institutional support for new crypto features, and more.
Vitalik Buterin joined the discussion in Lopp’s post, referring to Saylor’s remarks as "insane." The Ethereum creator argued that this Bitcoin custody approach is likely to fail and goes against the fundamental principles of cryptocurrency.