256 X’s & O’s
Be careful not to look at those 1’s & 0’s as X’s & O’s, but it’s okay.
Your propensity to self-custody your own private keys and hoard loads of hardware wallets might be an obsession, but that’s ok, because we know you wouldn’t want it any other way.
But think about it.
Your unconscious overprotective nature you place on your private keys, spoiling it with different hardware outerwear, and showing it off on social media is akin to an intimate relationship. You really do care about how it looks, its utility value, and its future potential value it can bring. It’s 2021 and if that’s modern era’s way of defining what makes a relationship a relationship, then so be it.
You see, there really is something immensely intimate about holding your own private keys. You start looking at those 256 bits of 1’s and 0’s as the same X’s and O’s you wrote to your middle school crush. By the time you get to experience the rush of inserting your own private keys into a ScriptSig generation, spilling out the locked UTXOs……game over….you’re hooked.
By the time you get to experience the rush of inserting your own private keys into a ScriptSig generation, spilling out the locked UTXOs……game over….you’re hooked.
The notion of holding something so near and dear to your heart is a reason why it’s private. A set of binary digits so powerful yet so obscure and intangible has the power to metaphorically be inserted into the heart of the Bitcoin network so that one’s precious UTXOs can therefore be unlocked and released. Although a cheeky analogy, it’s having what it takes to open one’s heart in reciprocating back to you, then in a way that precipitates to those around you in an unstoppable raging force.
But…
Like with any relationship, there are caveats…
By giving someone else the opportunity to hold your private keys, you give up that direct relationship and instead invite a third party, a mistress so to speak, in the form of a nefarious crypto exchange. It’s haphazard. That mistress has the chance to sour your relationship with Bitcoin in the form of a hack or stolen funds, thereby losing your hopes in what Bitcoin can really provide.
You see, you’re actually in a love triangle, rather than a 1 to 1 relationship. For some, that might be their thing. But to others, you lose the chance to see that original pure relationship grow into something more. You don’t control your fate with Bitcoin anymore. The mistress does. And the mistress always only cares about itself.
It’s only until you personally take your private keys to sign a transaction is when you will instantly feel that palpable out-of-body connection that is only meant to be between you and the network. With no one else in between.
Holding your private keys is akin to holding a part of the network. A network you can be assured that your UTXOs will be forever secured as long as YOU hold your private keys.
Take back control of your private keys if you don’t already.
