Trezor warns that growing adoption of spot Bitcoin ETFs could weaken self-custody practices and undermine one of Bitcoin’s core principles.
Bitcoin News
Investors have moved more than $53 billion into spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) since the products launched in the United States in early 2024. The funds have driven much of Bitcoin's price action since then. But one of crypto's oldest hardware wallet makers now warns that the trend threatens a core Bitcoin principle.
Trezor Chief Commercial Officer Danny Sanders told The Block at BTC Prague that wider reliance on ETFs over private keys would harm the industry. Self custody lets a holder control their own Bitcoin rather than trusting an exchange or custodian.
That control carries a trade-off, because there is no recourse if a holder loses a seed phrase or hands private keys to a scammer. Sanders argued the barrier is more psychological than technical, saying the process is not as hard as it first appears.
Low Self-Custody Adoption
Sanders said the industry counts roughly 600 million users, yet only about 10% hold their own assets. Of that group, just 12 million to 13 million rely on hardware wallets, generally regarded as the most secure way to store private keys.
Trezor was founded in Prague in 2013 and helped create the hardware wallet sector. The company introduced the mnemonic seed phrase standard known as BIP-39, which Bitcoin still uses today. Sanders said the priority should be easier self-custody through better design, education, and backup systems, and he called the move to "just put it in an ETF" the worst outcome for the industry.
Treasury Firms Under Pressure
A separate warning at the same event focused on Bitcoin treasury companies. Strive Chief Investment Officer Ben Werkman said that prolonged price weakness could push firms toward consolidation or restructuring.
Werkman pointed to the debt many firms took on during last year's treasury boom. He said companies that used convertible debt, especially deals with collateral or coverage requirements, risk becoming forced sellers if weakness continues. BTC trades around 50% below its October 2025 record near $126,000.
Strive raised capital through equity alone and avoided convertible bonds, which Werkman said let it keep progressing through the downturn. He cited Strive's acquisition of Semler Scientific as the kind of consolidation that could spread, and he noted that firms such as Nakamoto are already restructuring balance sheets to cut debt.
Strive bought 32 BTC last week, matching the amount Strategy sold the week before. Chief Executive Matt Cole then announced a further purchase of 73 BTC for about $4.7 million on June 15, lifting the firm's holdings to 19,105 BTC. Werkman said Strategy's sale was strategic, meant to show rating agencies and the market that the company can sell Bitcoin to meet dividend obligations when conditions allow.
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