custodying your own crypto is like running your own mail server

where things start, but not where they end (for better or worse)

i am optimistic the end-state of crypto custody will be superior to the current state of mail clients, though (where you can arguably no longer run your own server bc of spam issues..)

Moxie Marlinspike famously said that people don’t want to run their own servers.

I also think most people don’t want to secure their own seed phrases.

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A doodler and computerer. I like permissive/permissionless open source, smart contracts, p2p systems, room-scale VR, and NixOS.

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Yup, but that's a false dichotomy. Seeds are 2015 era thinking, we're moving beyond seeds.

Moxie's "no one wants to run their own server" was also setting up a strawman. We don't need every user to run their own server for Ethereum to have the properties we want.

I think people would secure their own seed phrases if they saw the benefit, but what is the benefit to someone outside of crypto right now?  Not much.

If you want to attract non-crypto users, a sane default (for your valuable product) is to not have to worry about seed phrases.

People want only throw, no take.

If we ignore competing in a race to the bottom for a moment then it's less important what people want and more important what they're capable of doing vs what they're motivated to do.

yes I think the future is something I'd loosely describe as "[multi-]institution-assisted custody"

Yet for true owning of assets many will.

Already fun to see all family offices scramble or accept third parties

(Btw well managed multi sigs may provide self custody even with some third party help and oversight)