Fiat’s Siren Song

It appears that the erstwhile defenders of Bitcoin‘s honour have succumbed to the siren song of fiat. The rise of Bitcoin treasury companies, those entities that accumulate the digital asset with borrowed funds, has left the crypto community in a state of disarray. Some hail them as the harbingers of Bitcoin’s arrival on Wall Street, while others decry them as the Trojan horses of traditional finance, hell-bent on turning bitcoiners into “fiat bros” 🤑.

The Lure of Indirect Exposure

It seems that the halcyon days of self-custody, when one’s private keys were sacrosanct, are behind us. The likes of Elon Musk, that great bastion of crypto wisdom, once famously declared, “Your app sucks,” to a crypto wallet that dared to deny users access to their private keys. Fast forward to the present, and we find ourselves in a world where Bitcoin ETFs and treasury companies have become the flavour du jour. The narrative has shifted, and self-custody has been relegated to the shadows 🌑.

For those who still cling to the ideals of self-custody, the notion of indirect Bitcoin exposure is anathema. Owning paper Bitcoin, as it were, is a pale imitation of the real thing. And yet, the allure of stocks and ETFs, which promise to deliver the benefits of Bitcoin’s price movements without the hassle of actual ownership, has proven too great to resist for many 🤑.

Trojan Horses on Wall Street

Some view treasury companies as a means for institutional investors to dip their toes into the crypto market. Michael Saylor, the Chairman of Strategy, has declared his intention to bridge the cryptocurrency economy and traditional capital markets. But others see him and his ilk as Trojan horses, hell-bent on turning bitcoiners into traditional finance investors 🐎.

Bitcoin treasury companies short fiat money and buy bitcoin.

Greatest business model in human history.

— Joe Burnett, MSBA (@IIICapital) July 1, 2025

And yet, despite the grand rhetoric, treasury companies are, at their core, creatures of traditional finance. They don’t pay their employees in crypto, nor do they accept Bitcoin as payment for their stocks. It’s a case of “do as I say, not as I do” 🤑.

Who’s Trojan Horsing Who?@americanhodl8 deserves an Oscar for this Bitcoin masterpiece 🔥

— Walker⚡️ (@WalkerAmerica) June 30, 2025

The Bitcoin standard narrative, once a rallying cry for the faithful, has been co-opted by treasury companies as a marketing tool. The likes of Satoshi’s Journal and Andrew M. Bailey have sounded the alarm, warning of the dangers of these companies and their influence on the Bitcoin media landscape 🚨.

— Satoshi’s Journal (@SatoshisJournal) November 10, 2024

As the debate rages on, one thing is clear: the rise of treasury companies has left the crypto community divided. Will they prove to be the saviours of Bitcoin, or will they succumb to the pitfalls of traditional finance? Only time will tell ⏰.

“Every podcaster who is not a treasury company executive is a policy failure. We must seize the means of paper bitcoin production”

Wow!

(pic unrelated)

— Andrew M. Bailey (@resistancemoney) July 3, 2025

One thing is certain, however: the fate of Bitcoin hangs in the balance. Will it remain a beacon of independence and self-custody, or will it succumb to the siren song of fiat? The choice is ours 🤑.

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2025-07-06 00:15