Buterin Blasts Saylor’s Bitcoin Custody Take!

Vitalik Buterin said Michael Saylor’s suggestion that crypto users should use big banks to custody Bitcoin is “batshit insane.”

Author

Danielle du Toit
October 23, 2024

Here's what we've got for you today:

  • Saylor’s Comments on Big Bank BTC Custody are ‘Batshit Insane’ - Buterin

  • Bitcoin’s Price Action Reflects Trump’s Increasing Election Odds

  • Spot Bitcoin ETFs Shift to Negative Flows After 7-Day Inflow Run

  • Polymarket is Scanning for US Users as Election Odds Skew Toward Trump: Report

Vitalik Buterin has some strong opinions about MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor’s suggestion that crypto users should use big banks to custody Bitcoin.

  • MicroStrategy's Michael Saylor faced a lot of criticism for suggesting Bitcoin holders should rely on "too big to fail" banks for custody, which was in stark contrast with his previous advocacy for self-custody.

  • Buterin accused Saylor of supporting a "regulatory capture" approach, like investment managers BlackRock and Fidelity holding the asset with “all the lawmakers and law enforcement arms invested in those entities.”

  • Bitcoin advocates also argued that self-custody is crucial for individual Bitcoin holders and the overall strength and decentralization of the network.

Analysts believe Bitcoin's recent price jump could be linked to rising sentiment around Donald Trump's chances in the 2024 US presidential election. 

  • Bitfinex analysts revealed on Oct. 21 that market speculation suggested that there is a growing correlation between Bitcoin's price movements and Donald Trump's election odds.

  • The correlation between Bitcoin's performance and Trump's odds has been more consistent than in other markets, and this relationship strengthened after the launch of Trump's World Liberty Financial (WLFI) token on Oct. 16.

  • David Lawant of FalconX believes that Bitcoin is expected to perform well regardless of the election outcome.

The 12 spot Bitcoin ETFs reported total net outflows of $79.09 million on Tuesday. 

  • Ark and 21Shares’ ARKB fund saw $134.74 million in outflows, which accounted for the day's entire outflows.

  • BlackRock’s IBIT led net inflows with $42.98 million, followed by Fidelity’s FBTC with $8.85 million, and VanEck’s HODL with $3.82 million. Eight other funds, including Grayscale’s GBTC, saw no flows.

  • The net outflows of $79 million brought the cumulative net inflows of the 12 Bitcoin ETFs to $21.15 billion.

Polymarket is checking to make sure whales placing big bets on the US presidential election are based overseas, as US users are banned from the platform.

  • There are some concerns that US residents may be using virtual private networks to bypass restrictions and access Polymarket.

  • There is also speculation that a few large bettors, or "whales," are influencing the odds in Polymarket's "Presidential Election Winner 2024" market to favor Donald Trump.

  • Close to $2.3 billion in bets have been placed on Polymarket’s election winner contract, where Trump is in the lead with a 63.7% chance over Kamala Harris at 36.2%. He also leads with 60% on Kalshi.

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