The rise of ETFs challenges Bitcoin’s self-custody roots
The growing popularity of Bitcoin ETFs and treasury companies is reshaping how investors hold Bitcoin — raising questions about the core principle of „not your keys, not your coins.“
Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and other institutional Bitcoin products may be reshaping a core crypto ethos rooted in Satoshi Nakamoto’s original vision. According to onchain data, Bitcoin self-custody has been steadily declining since January 2024 — the same month Bitcoin spot ETFs were approved.
After nearly 15 years of growth, the creation of new Bitcoin (BTC) addresses is slowing down, while active addresses have dropped sharply from nearly 1 million in January 2024 to around 650,000 in late June, reaching levels not seen since 2019.
“Since spot ETFs became available the growth rate of self-custody users has been in decline,” said on X analyst Willy Woo.
