Bitwise becomes first US spot Bitcoin ETF to disclose BTC holding addresses

[Majestic-milf]

 Bitwise, one of the leading cryptocurrency asset management firm has set the pace for other spot Bitcoin ETF approvals in the US to publicly disclose its Bitcoin address holdings.



 

 The aim is to show how transparent and to further maintain the trust their customers have in them. I think this sets the bar for the others to follow but I'm a little bit curious by this action of Bitwise. Does this mean they can't still falsify records even as they've displayed their records to the public?

https://bitcoinmagazine.com/markets/bitwise-becomes-first-u-s-spot-bitcoin-etf-to-disclose-btc-holding-addresses

[Oshosondy]

That means BlackRock and other companies having bitcoin ETF shares people can buy from are not having their bitcoin address disclosed? That is not right is what that I am thinking. But their users already have trust in them.

As for Bitwise, this serves as prove of reserve.

I will like to say that the real bitcoin are not the ETF shares. You do not need to know any third party if you buy the real coin and not a token or shares. Also the only time you have the complete control is when you buy the real bitcoin and have it on noncustodial wallet.

[Fiatless]

The aim is to show how transparent and to further maintain the trust their customers have in them. I think this sets the bar for the others to follow but I'm a little bit curious by this action of Bitwise.
https://bitcoinmagazine.com/markets/bitwise-becomes-first-u-s-spot-bitcoin-etf-to-disclose-btc-holding-addresses

Bitwise has done well by voluntarily publishing its Bitcoin address holding and they have set a pace of transparency and openness. I also hope they will disclose more of their financial operations like how many shares have been acquired this is to ensure that they have enough funds to back it up. I also see this move as a marketing strategy to attract investors to the asset management firm. Maybe other asset managers might follow to prove that they are also accountable.

Does this mean they can't still falsify records even as they've displayed their records to the public?

These centralised platforms could do anything just to prove that they are trustworthy. They could go as far as borrowing Bitcoin from other sources and transfer it to the address just to deceive investors. You will never know how dirty these companies are until they have problems. It is better to buy your coins directly and keep them in your wallet because you will never know what is happening behind the glamour more of these firms are showing.

[Davidvictorson]

The aim is to show how transparent and to further maintain the trust their customers have in them. I think this sets the bar for the others to follow but I'm a little bit curious by this action of Bitwise. Does this mean they can't still falsify records even as they've displayed their records to the public?

I have counted about 11 spot bitcoin ETFs that has been approved since the beginning of the month. Yes, Bitwise has done a noble thing by trying to push for more transparency in the crypto finance space and I applaud them for this. I which the other companies will follow in this path. What are the other ways that these companies with spot bitcoin ETFs approval can show transparency?

If you are here reading this, I will recommend that you stick with the real bitcoin. The real transparency is in you being in charge of your bitcoin and controlling it. That is the real transparency.

[tranthidung]

If you are here reading this, I will recommend that you stick with the real bitcoin. The real transparency is in you being in charge of your bitcoin and controlling it. That is the real transparency.

Invest in Bitcoin by directly buying bitcoin, not Bitcoin Spot ETF shares and not Wrapped Bitcoin tokens, is good.

To be safe with bitcoin we have, we must store bitcoins in open source, non custodial wallets and make sure we back up our wallets well, correctly and backups surely can be used for recovery. Remember to test backup by using it for recovery before funding bitcoin in that wallet.

Those Bitcoin Spot ETFs have to buy bitcoin before issuing their shares to investors but it's safest to buy bitcoin and store it by ourselves.

A similar advice.

• Reminder: do not keep your money in online accounts

List of Bitcoin Spot ETFs and their fees.

• Fee is a partial reason of migration from Grayscale.

[Cryptomultiplier]

By this action of Bitwise which involves disclosure of BTC holding address, the concept of ETF projects becomes clear and that is that, it seeks to be a more centralized rather than decentralized system.
Anyone or businesses sueing for anonymity would have failed if they opt for the ETFs instead of buying BTC and storing it in a non custodial wallet.

We would see other exchanges do same soonest and what's more of a concern to me is what becomes of Bitcoin and the ETF during and after the halving. 

[darkangel11]

This is fair and done in the spirit of transparency, which is a vital part of bitcoin. I hope that more companies decide to do that. It's in fact strange that it's not mandatory for exchanges to disclose their addresses. The only reason they might do it that comes to mind is fear of the mass exodus and panic if they ever get hacked or decide to exit scam. It doesn't pose any threat to them as a company when they make addresses public.

We would see other exchanges do same soonest and what's more of a concern to me is what becomes of Bitcoin and the ETF during and after the halving. 

In the meantime, believe that your funds are safu

[Majestic-milf]

That means BlackRock and other companies having bitcoin ETF shares people can buy from are not having their bitcoin address disclosed? That is not right is what that I am thinking. But their users already have trust in them.

I feel they aren't quickly jumping on the idea to disclose their holdings to avoid security issues. Some crypto enthusiasts feel it will be cool for these others to follow in the steps of Bitwise so it will boost competitiveness per se, but like you pointed out, most of their users have implicit trust in them thats why they aren't really in a hurry to show the addresses.

I got this from cointelegraph that Arkham was able to unearth some Bitcoin ETFs on chain addresses of Black rock, Grayscale and even Franklin Templeton.
 
.

 I don't know if this is permitted to be done. A company has not allowed the release of documents like this and you do it, is it legal? But then again, if you've got nothing to hide, there's no biggie right?

[Text]

Bitwise's actions align with the fundamental principles of Bitcoin, prioritizing transparency and open verification. This approach enables investors and regulators to independently validate asset holdings and transaction flows. I believe that if Bitwise were to attempt to falsify their records, it would be detectable.

Other companies may choose not to follow suit, perhaps due to security concerns. We are well aware that hackers are always lurking and can seemingly infiltrate and exploit anything, considering only the additional risks exposed, such as cybersecurity threats.

Trust in these companies is not solely based on the disclosure of Bitcoin addresses. It is built on various factors, including its track record, security measures, and regulatory compliance.

[slaman29]

I personally feel it's quite lol to see that the reason others are not doing the same is "security concerns" of hacking and tampering. Clearly they don't even know shit if they think you can actually risk being stolen just by showing your holding address.

Bitcoin experts clearly right?

[moneystery]

what bitwise is doing is very good because it will show that their company is not like blackrock or other companies that only launch bitcoin etfs without any direct reserves for bitcoin. bitvest show to the public that they are launching a bitcoin etf and at the same time investing in bitcoin to show that they not only want to participate in this bitcoin etf competition, but also want to develop the bitcoin market through their investment.

the transparency carried out by bitwise is a form of their commitment to the development of the bitcoin market, because they show evidence that they not only launched an etf but they also invested in bitcoin and that could increase the sympathy of the bitcoin community and investors' trust in etf products or other products that they offer.

[franky1]

I personally feel it's quite lol to see that the reason others are not doing the same is "security concerns" of hacking and tampering. Clearly they don't even know shit if they think you can actually risk being stolen just by showing your holding address.

Bitcoin experts clearly right?

if a server has a file that lists their private keys and labels them to the associated address, to know which key is for which address
then a hacker can just scan the server for addresses in a file, and grab any/all files containing that address, thus then grabbing privatekey just by association

for instance bitwise is using legacy, thus no multisig of split keys on different devices, so by hacking bitwise computers and only downloading files containing its reserves bitcoin address, they can quickly mostlikely grab a file with privkey too

[348Judah]

Most of these reputable business organizations have their financial capacity open to the public including their clients, the likes of BlackRock would have done this long time ago because it's one of the means they can use to convince their potential customers to know how reliable they are financially or not, maybe we are just having the opportunity of being a witness to that of Bitwise the time they are making it open to the public, they would have realize what they may be missing in not doing so.

[ImThour]

This is Proof of Reserve from Bitwise to the community to gain more trust in them. However, the biggest players in ETF will remain companies like BlackRock etc.
They are willing to do something great for the people in the community by making it more transparent and I hope, other companies will follow that too. let's see how it goes.

[btc78]

I think this allows other people to be more considerate of bitcoin basically etf btc is like a watered-down version of bitcoin bitcoin does not hold these values that centralized exchanges hold which probably allows for other people to be more interested in bitcoin because they see transparency

I do know that those original investors might not like what is going on but it is definitely going to make bitcoin bigger than it already is

[Fundamentals Of]

I was also amazed at Bitwise's initiative to post their Bitcoin address to the public. In this way, everybody knows how much Bitcoin Bitwise has. And then we can proceed to compare this to the amount of Bitcoin spot ETF that investors have purchased from Bitwise. It must be equal for this to be considered a proof of reserve. It is pointless to just present to the public how much Bitcoin you have when the public doesn't know how much Bitcoin you should have. It's like Binance saying we have this amount but people are clueless as to how much their users actually deposited to the platform.

[slaman29]

I personally feel it's quite lol to see that the reason others are not doing the same is "security concerns" of hacking and tampering. Clearly they don't even know shit if they think you can actually risk being stolen just by showing your holding address.

Bitcoin experts clearly right?

if a server has a file that lists their private keys and labels them to the associated address, to know which key is for which address
then a hacker can just scan the server for addresses in a file, and grab any/all files containing that address, thus then grabbing privatekey just by association

for instance bitwise is using legacy, thus no multisig of split keys on different devices, so by hacking bitwise computers and only downloading files containing its reserves bitcoin address, they can quickly mostlikely grab a file with privkey too

This goes back to my whole point... if they are Bitcoin experts as they claim to be, since they are selling their ETFs this way then there's no need to have a file with priv keys to address. It doesn't make sense, you can just give private key you have access to wallet, you don't need to list an address near it.

If they do, it's pretty dumb, a hacker can scan for btc address string easily anyway?

But I get your point

[franky1]

I personally feel it's quite lol to see that the reason others are not doing the same is "security concerns" of hacking and tampering. Clearly they don't even know shit if they think you can actually risk being stolen just by showing your holding address.

Bitcoin experts clearly right?

if a server has a file that lists their private keys and labels them to the associated address, to know which key is for which address
then a hacker can just scan the server for addresses in a file, and grab any/all files containing that address, thus then grabbing privatekey just by association

for instance bitwise is using legacy, thus no multisig of split keys on different devices, so by hacking bitwise computers and only downloading files containing its reserves bitcoin address, they can quickly mostlikely grab a file with privkey too

This goes back to my whole point... if they are Bitcoin experts as they claim to be, since they are selling their ETFs this way then there's no need to have a file with priv keys to address. It doesn't make sense, you can just give private key you have access to wallet, you don't need to list an address near it.

If they do, it's pretty dumb, a hacker can scan for btc address string easily anyway?

But I get your point

well who said rich people were smart
SEC meant to be a authority of financial security. yet had their twitter account hacked

anyways
if someone has many wallet.dat files. finding the one containing the privkey of the large fund is easy via searching public address
look whats in a wallet.dat file
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Wallet#Bitcoin_Core

It contains:

• keypairs for each of your addresses
• transactions done from/to your addresses