The part that deserves more attention is the stock ownership chain: you buy from a broker, the broker holds it in street name, and what you actually own is a claim on a claim. Most people never test that chain until the day they need it, and by then it is a phone queue and a bankruptcy court.

Where I live, in Cuba, we have a cheaper version of that lesson. Savings in the bank are a promise, the promise is made in a currency that gets reprinted, and everyone who trusted the paperwork learned what "the day after" means long before any of this. That is why I stopped arguing about which asset is best and started caring about what I can hold and move myself.

But I will not pretend self-custody is free. Losing a seed phrase is the same as a bank failing, just faster and with nobody left to blame.

If the really big one lands, do you think people run toward self-custody, or toward whatever the state promises to insure this time?