TD₿: 12 and 24 Word Mnemonic Phrases (a thread) by John Cantrell

TL;DR Mnemonics are used to help you remember your private keys by making it easy to write down or even memorize your seed.

Hey Bitcoiners, 

Lately, I’ve been on the offensive against companies and individuals that I believe are disingenuous and harmful to Bitcoin and the ecosystem.

The latest one that I sparred with online is the CEO of Celsius, Alex Mashinsky. I believe Celsius attracts users with high-yield products, rehypothecates the funds into risky investments, and then makes it arduous for users to take self-custody of their funds from the platform.

A perfect example of this is when Celsius was rumored to have ~$500 million in the Luna/Terra Ponzi scheme but was able to withdraw the funds right before its collapse.

When questioned about this, Alex responded with…

Alex Mashinsky @Mashinsky

@coryklippsten @CelsiusNetwork You are afraid to do a debate in public setting to debunk all your conspiracy theories. 30% of all Bitcoin is lost because people listened to you and Bitcoin Maxis and kept their own keys @CelsiusNetwork with over 150,000 BTC did not loose any bitcoins to lost wallets or hacks

I found his answer ridiculous. Apparently, Alex doesn’t think people should hold their private keys because people have lost them in the past.

He would prefer people trust his shady company to store the keys and then rehypothecate their bitcoin to risky third parties.

This is bad for Bitcoin because it centralizes bitcoin holdings in third-party custodians, and it is bad for users who have to trust a company to not go bankrupt with their private keys.

At Swan, we have the exact opposite approach. Our goal is to have as little bitcoin in custody as possible by making it easy to self-custody and educating our clients on how to take ownership of their private keys.

A great piece of education written by John Cantrell around self-custody came from this Twitter thread about how mnemonics are used in Bitcoin to help a person remember their private keys (01/19/2022).

Not your keys, not your bitcoin.

If you’re holding your bitcoin on Celsius, then that’s not your bitcoin. That is Alex’s bitcoin, to do with it as he pleases.

Cory Klippsten @coryklippsten

Celsius chief excrement officer thinks he owns your BTC https://t.co/FR3ljCxfdQ

Alex Mashinsky @Mashinsky

Celsius now holds over 135,000 $BTC Tell us who in the world has more #BTC than @CelsiusNetwork ?

Tick tock next block,
Cory Klippsten

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Quote of the Day

“Get your bitcoin off exchanges. You don’t want to have your coins at one that is swimming naked. It’s not hard. You can do it.” - Lyle Pratt, Founder at Vida.live

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