Danny Saunders, a senior executive at hardware wallet maker Trezor, said the growing habit of holding Bitcoin in ETFs could pose long-term risks to the fundamental tenets of the crypto sector.
Speaking at the BTC Prague event, Trezor business director Saunders said there are approximately 600 million crypto users worldwide, but only about 10% of them hold their assets using proprietary custody methods. According to Sanders, the number of people using hardware wallets is only between 12 million and 13 million.
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Institutional investor interest in Bitcoin has increased significantly due to the fact that the US Spot Bitcoin ETF has attracted over $53 billion in inflows since its inception in 2024. But Sanders warned that this trend could dampen users’ desire to have direct control over their private keys.
Sanders argued that while personal control is a fundamental feature of the Bitcoin system, there are still major challenges when it comes to user experience and security. Therefore, many investors prefer to participate in the market through intermediary solutions such as exchanges, custodial services, and ETFs.
Instead of accepting a structure that completely pushes Bitcoin into ETFs, Trezor executives said the industry should focus on making personal storage easier and more secure. The shift to long-term Bitcoin holdings, dominated by ETFs, weakens the idea of a decentralized asset and could be a “worst-case scenario” for the industry, Sanders said.
*This is not investment advice.
