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

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Host Links

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⁠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