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Bitcoin Audible · Yesterday · 16 min

Learning the Wrong Lessons

Thousands of careful Bitcoiners just got wiped out by a Coldcard entropy bug, and I use this episode to push back hard on the idea that self-custody is dead, and "don't trust, verify" failed us. I walk through the brutal history of centralized custodial failures, explain why "holding your own keys is still orders of magnitude safer, and extract three real lessons from this recent disaster. This is about keeping perspective, learning the right lessons from pain, and making Bitcoin self-custody stronger, not weaker. Chapters (00:00:00) - Intro (00:00:41) - Is self custody pointless (00:03:07) - Only tradeoffs exist (00:05:16) - History of exchange hacks (00:08:27) - Custodial total losses (00:08:27) - Not your keys (00:09:35) - Coldcard loss in context (00:10:55) - Bitcoin as antifragile (00:11:46) - Open vs source available (00:12:39) - Audits and entropy Affiliate Links Become sovereign, hold your keys, be censorship resistant with the Bitbox hardware wallet. Get 5% off everything in the store with code GUY (Link: https://bitbox.swiss/guy/) Get 10% off the best Bitcoin board game in the world, HODLUP! Or any of the other great games from The Free Market Kids! Use code GUY10 at checkout for 10% off your cart! (Link: https://www.freemarketkids.com/collections/games-1) Host Links ⁠Guy on Nostr ⁠(Link: http://tinyurl.com/2xc96ney) ⁠Guy on X ⁠(Link: https://twitter.com/theguyswann) Guy on Instagram (Link: https://www.instagram.com/theguyswann) Guy on TikTok (Link: https://www.tiktok.com/@theguyswann) Guy's Takes on YouTube (Link: https://www.youtube.com/@GuysTake) Guy Swann on YouTube (Link: https://www.youtube.com/@theguyswann) ⁠Bitcoin Audible on X⁠ (Link: https://twitter.com/BitcoinAudible) The Guy Swann Network Broadcast Room on Keet (Link: https://tinyurl.com/3na6v839) References from the episode Forbes: https://urlfy.org/RDRfIkQ Bitcoin Magazine: https://urlfy.org/mcBm04r Crypto Briefing: https://urlfy.org/wmWw1di X: https://urlfy.org/9iTPaOL Okumaru Goro: https://urlfy.org/KJW9ATL Crypto Briefing: https://urlfy.org/13bbT8t Coldcard Hack Tracker: https://urlfy.org/9CIZMk8 Coinkite Blog: https://urlfy.org/4OAm8cd Bitcoin Stack Exchange: https://urlfy.org/Yn4V8o8 Technology Innovators: https://urlfy.org/YU4yHhe NVK.wtf: https://urlfy.org/e6FRNTR DanB Blog: https://urlfy.org/WqQKqCm BitBox Blog: https://urlfy.org/mlJe2ct Bitcoin Well: https://urlfy.org/jyosFLM Lopp Blog: https://urlfy.org/UQGBXZP Crypto University: https://urlfy.org/DoHZ1ca OneKey: https://urlfy.org/nBMCpX0 Spark Money: https://urlfy.org/c1WCJBu Spiral Substack: https://urlfy.org/Pdm0e5a GitHub: https://urlfy.org/P3mkfhF BBC: https://urlfy.org/OVg8W2B Reuters: https://urlfy.org/oir88KO The Independent: https://urlfy.org/Smd5e7W CoinDesk: https://urlfy.org/1EGotje YouTube: https://urlfy.org/0yjQMzO

0:00 · Intro-16:26

transcript

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show notes

Thousands of careful Bitcoiners just got wiped out by a Coldcard entropy bug, and I use this episode to push back hard on the idea that self-custody is dead, and "don't trust, verify" failed us.

I walk through the brutal history of centralized custodial failures, explain why "holding your own keys is still orders of magnitude safer, and extract three real lessons from this recent disaster. This is about keeping perspective, learning the right lessons from pain, and making Bitcoin self-custody stronger, not weaker.

Chapters

(00:00:00) - Intro

(00:00:41) - Is self custody pointless

(00:03:07) - Only tradeoffs exist

(00:05:16) - History of exchange hacks

(00:08:27) - Custodial total losses

(00:08:27) - Not your keys

(00:09:35) - Coldcard loss in context

(00:10:55) - Bitcoin as antifragile

(00:11:46) - Open vs source available

(00:12:39) - Audits and entropy

Affiliate Links

  • Become sovereign, hold your keys, be censorship resistant with the Bitbox hardware wallet. Get 5% off everything in the store with code GUY (Link: https://bitbox.swiss/guy/)
  • Get 10% off the best Bitcoin board game in the world, HODLUP! Or any of the other great games from The Free Market Kids! Use code GUY10 at checkout for 10% off your cart! (Link: https://www.freemarketkids.com/collections/games-1)

Host Links

⁠Guy on Nostr ⁠(Link: http://tinyurl.com/2xc96ney)

⁠Guy on X ⁠(Link: https://twitter.com/theguyswann)

Guy on Instagram (Link: https://www.instagram.com/theguyswann)

Guy on TikTok (Link: https://www.tiktok.com/@theguyswann)

Guy's Takes on YouTube (Link: https://www.youtube.com/@GuysTake)

Guy Swann on YouTube (Link: https://www.youtube.com/@theguyswann)

⁠Bitcoin Audible on X⁠ (Link: https://twitter.com/BitcoinAudible)

The Guy Swann Network Broadcast Room on Keet (Link: https://tinyurl.com/3na6v839)

References from the episode

Forbes: https://urlfy.org/RDRfIkQ

Bitcoin Magazine: https://urlfy.org/mcBm04r

Crypto Briefing: https://urlfy.org/wmWw1di

X: https://urlfy.org/9iTPaOL

Okumaru Goro: https://urlfy.org/KJW9ATL

Crypto Briefing: https://urlfy.org/13bbT8t

Coldcard Hack Tracker: https://urlfy.org/9CIZMk8

Coinkite Blog: https://urlfy.org/4OAm8cd

Bitcoin Stack Exchange: https://urlfy.org/Yn4V8o8

Technology Innovators: https://urlfy.org/YU4yHhe

NVK.wtf: https://urlfy.org/e6FRNTR

DanB Blog: https://urlfy.org/WqQKqCm

BitBox Blog: https://urlfy.org/mlJe2ct

Bitcoin Well: https://urlfy.org/jyosFLM

Lopp Blog: https://urlfy.org/UQGBXZP

Crypto University: https://urlfy.org/DoHZ1ca

OneKey: https://urlfy.org/nBMCpX0

Spark Money: https://urlfy.org/c1WCJBu

Spiral Substack: https://urlfy.org/Pdm0e5a

GitHub: https://urlfy.org/P3mkfhF

BBC: https://urlfy.org/OVg8W2B

Reuters: https://urlfy.org/oir88KO

The Independent: https://urlfy.org/Smd5e7W

CoinDesk: https://urlfy.org/1EGotje

YouTube: https://urlfy.org/0yjQMzO

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chapters

10 chapters