- The controversial Dr. Craig Wright raised the alarm on Bitcoin’s steep fees, which are becoming detrimental to holders who want to exercise self-custody.
- The Australian computer programmer also criticized the increasing control of traditional and centralized institutions over BTC.
Around 16 years ago, Satoshi Nakamoto formulated a revolutionary whitepaper titled “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System.” The document contained the blueprint of what would later become one of the top assets in the world by market cap.
The whitepaper proposed, “A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution.” In addition, the digital asset’s trustless infrastructure effectively eliminates third parties and establishes “strong control of ownership” as well as user privacy.
Deconstruction of Bitcoin’s Decentralized Design
For the infamous Dr. Craig Wright, the true vision for Bitcoin has been lost in the shuffle. With the entry of institutional players like BlackRock, and MicroStategy—whom the self-proclaimed Bitcoin inventor has specifically mentioned—into its ecosystem, it has become the old financial system it aimed to dismantle.
While most people may disagree with Wright’s incessant insinuation that he was Bitcoin’s inventor, despite the court already ruling against it and his peers’ major opposition, his latest litany on X using a new account definitely leaves points that are worth pondering.
Bitcoin’s Staggering Fees
One of Wright’s criticisms stemmed from the exorbitant fees for BTC. Even at low network traffic, he claimed that one has to fork out $5 per transaction. This significantly goes up when its activity is at its height.
At the Bitcoin network’s peak, the fees could soar to $50 or even $100. Such rates, he said, are favorable to custodial services, not for individual sovereignty.
Stripping Financial Privacy
The high fees then cause users to hold large amounts in a single address. This increases their on-chain visibility, which could make them more visible to monitoring platforms or other interested parties.
“This visibility is not a bug, it is a feature that aligns perfectly with the old financial system Bitcoin was designed to dismantle,” Wright explained.
Increasing Third-Party Influence in BTC
The aforementioned factors discourage people from exercising self-custody for their BTC assets. The trend strips individuals of the ability to hold many small coins or enjoy BTC’s fractional ownership features. Instead, it forces them to rely on centralized institutions for the custody of their crypto assets.
“Custodians hold it, manage it, and control it,” Wright added. For him, the scheme represents “the old financial model disguised as something revolutionary.”
Fear of BTC’s Underlying Technology
Furthermore, Wright pointed out that traditional financial institutions are championing BTC rather than Bitcoin. This is because of the fact that the Bitcoin blockchain “represents a threat” that could decentralize power, give people more control over their wealth, and cancel out the role of custodians or intermediaries.
Therefore, big businesses have found a way to curtail the liberties and privacy offered by the Bitcoin blockchain by consolidating BTC. They try to hide behind the veil of complexity and high fees to urge people to entrust their crypto assets to them.
This way, the few would still get to handle the reigns of the many, and giant corporations and governments could maintain surveillance over the masses.
