Should You Buy The Bitcoin ETF?

Learn how to buy anonymous Bitcoin:

In this video, I discuss the trade-offs between owning a spot Bitcoin ETF and holding your own real BTC in self-custody.

If you are going to buy another investment like bonds, stocks, real estate, or gold, I think that buying a Bitcoin spot ETF will have much higher returns and thus offer better preservation of your savings' purchasing power going forward.

However, buying real BTC offers many additional benefits that cannot be obtained by holding an ETF.

Holding real BTC gives you the freedom to send it to anyone or move it anywhere in the world, without being trapped inside of a brokerage account.

Unlike the Bitcoin spot ETFs, real BTC does not expose you to myriad counter-party risks, as well as the risk of confiscation.

Bitcoin is freedom money. Learn how to use it in a self-sovereign manner if you value your personal freedoms.

Not investment advice! Consult a financial advisor.

Coinbase Custody will be holding most of the BTC backing the Bitcoin spot ETFs:

Chart of falling US dollar purchasing power:

Be Your Own Bank (Bitcoin):

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(I'm not being paid or otherwise compensated by either company)

I am not being paid or otherwise compensated by any company or cryptocurrency project that I mention in my videos. My opinion is not for sale. Please do not contact me with any affiliate or advertising deals.

#Bitcoin
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Disclaimer

[Bitcoin_University]

Please report any fake Michael Saylor ads and scammy Ripple or Solana ads that are sometimes played before my video. Unfortunately I have no control over these ads, which may be served up to you by YouTube. Never ever send your Bitcoin to anyone and expect to get double the Bitcoin back. Please be smart.

[megalomedia]

BTC ETFs are really only a thing for Institutions and Corporation that can’t figure out how to store, and getting rid of any Conflict of Interest, like the principal agent conflict.

[edfox]

Here we go everyone! 🎉 Whatever happens today, we win. BTC either rally’s or goes on sale.

[onehappydawg]

“These men are your daddy”
😆😂🤣 I about died when you said that….and your dry straight forward mater of fact way of saying it makes it even that much more hilarious.

[Halotest]

Great video Matt. Well done on growing your channel too. I wouldn't have bought any BTC back in 2019/2020 only for your channel. Fingers crossed we get a spot BTC ETF today 🙂

[shinakuma]

Great breakdown of real Bitcoin vs the ETF asset.

[MDLY]

Paying someone a fee to take full control of my money seems like a repeat of the exact thing I'm trying to get away from by owning Bitcoin. It's a hard pass from me.

[searchingfortruth]

Good Afternoon Matt,

Whilst I personally agree with your ideological position, I can completly see why many people would rather buy the ETF. Certainly for people with limited money and here in the UK.

We have ISA accounts which are tax free for profits when inside the wrapper. Whereas BTC sales of the physical attract Capital Gains Tax.

Whilst I understand the ideological purity, the vast majority of people will need to access the money at some point in their lives. If you own the asset and keep funds on a wallet, any sale will attract Capital Gains Tax at potentially 20%. Whereas an ETF inside an ISA would be tax free. Do you have the same in the US?

BTC on a cold wallet once an ETF is approved may become the domain of only people who are both ideologically purist, and will not need to convert the BTC back to fiat very often in their lives.

Additionally, governments being governments, they may not be able to resist ratcheting ever upwards capital gains taxes and lowering any allowances, as they see their own system starting to fail.

I appreciate there are ways and means to get around the system, but the reality is that average Joe and Jane do not want to break the 'Law'. Whatever that means.

Any thoughts?

[psychedwellness]

I tried to close my 401k to invest 100% in btc but couldn't under plan rules unless I lost my job. Did use all the loans/withdrawals allowable and I've got a sufficient bit in self custody, so may invest in an etf that isn't using coinbase for custody, along with companies like microstrategy to get exposure with funds that I'm otherwise not able to move into the btc space. Great video as always, thank you!

[parkscars]

commenting bc its the only thing im competent to contribute to the space. ty matt carry me

[MystrMystry]

Great video explaining the pros and cons of the ETF and why self storage is just the best option really IMO

[ragnorosis]

Yeah, if you can self-custody you should. Still positive on the ETFs- for people that are more likely to fail to securely control their private keys (not to knock folks, but this is a lot of people) and for institutions or companies that can't manage self-custody and security.

[sneakypeo]

Non custodial cold storage, Self Directed IRA, and now ETF. Hold it in all of them.

[Barweezy]

I think ETF is ideal for people who want exposure in their retirement accounts.

[floridastacker]

I like holding it in both places. In a cold wallet and now bitcoin exposure in my 401k. There is a lot of fear in this video. There are plenty of reasons to worry about holding bitcoin on a cold wallet too.

[BriansWealthJourney]

Right now the Spot ETF's are only allocating 1-3% toward Bitcoin. Later they might offer 4, 5 or even 10%. So to me it doesn't make sense to invest in such a low allocation in Bitcoin. Get it from a reputable exchange.

[RobEGR]

I agree with nearly every point made. And yes everyone’s situation is unique. Let’s look at it with both eyes open though. Let’s say I’m a whole coiner and I’ve been stacking for some time and will continue to stack and self custody. I’m a true believer and with this I get all the intangibles that come with real Bitcoin.

However, there’s only so much net income that I have coming in each paycheck. But I had been building up my regular 401K/IRA/HSA long before Bitcoin come about in 2008. If I want to take on risk and go for price appreciation alone then I can allocate some of those retirement funds to the ETF. I just think that it’s not always binary and you can take some type of balance to multiple strategies which offers you a lot of diversification from many standpoints.

[joeybu]

Your vids are a great way to start my day!
Thanks a lot.

[bricklawson]

After you have a nice stack of Bitcoin, might as well max out a roth IRA and invest in BTC ETFs and MSTR right?

Seems like an easy way to save on taxes on Bitcoin gains..?

[jaybefaulky]

*the thing is that most people feel safer with an institutional ETF then trying to do any self custody* .. the same people who pay other people to trouble shoot their computer will not self custody.