Last June, a flying friend (and aerospace engineer) asked me if I could check out a family friend’s “bitcoin.” He sent me an image of a plastic Bitcoin wallet containing a partially obscured private key. The family friend had received the card as some sort of “gimmick at a conference” and had thrown it in a drawer.
It’s one of those moments where I find imposter syndrome perched on my shoulder, nodding, pursed lips. Two years in the business preceded by two more monkeys in my personal account didn’t give me enough crypto credit to say, “Oh, yeah, Wow. I remember it. Alright, I’m a noob. I made a disclaimer and quickly changed the subject.
Returning home, I opened the picture and set to work with the solemn determination of Quincy, ME (although forensic examination is an inappropriate metaphor, given the complete absence of foul play). How did these old wallets work? If the private key is printed on the card, how is it secure? I knew about BIP39, but what is BIP38?
Learning ensued. Then I checked the Bitcoin blockchain and noticed that exactly one bitcoin had been moved to this address nine and a half years earlier, when one bitcoin was worth just over $325. No activity since. As for the hidden BIP38 “private” key, you need a passphrase to decrypt it. Uh-oh. Did the family friend keep the secret phrase for ten years, on a Post-it® now worth $100,000?
—
This week we went to see a show with another group of friends. I offered to reimburse them for our tickets in crypto. “Set up a Phantom wallet, copy and securely store the seed phrase and send me your Ethereum address. I will pay you in Ether or USDC, your choice.
I saw all the faces. Laugh, roll your eyes, are you serious, wait a minute, hmmm, why not, OK! I’m still waiting for that Ethereum address, but I have no doubt it will happen. Another “gadget”, ten years later.
Why ETH or USDC? Why not bitcoin? In 2025, bitcoin is no longer a mystery. People understand, and if they are considering buying a digital asset, they will find Bitcoin on many shelves. It is a store of value. It’s rare. As more buyers enter the market over time, its value is expected to increase.
Lots of people do it not get Ethereum, nor smart contract platform blockchains. People also don’t get stablecoins, nor the fact that they rely on other blockchains and involve paying fees in ETH or SOL or a dozen other blockchain coins. For the “5%” – those who will eventually devote 5% of their energy and resources to investing in crypto – this appears to be the next key insight to unlock.
There’s no better way to do this than to invest a few “learning dollars” (i.e. not “investment dollars”) on the chain and move them. I hope my friends take their new USDC and throw some on AAVE, link some to Solana, and buy something on Uniswap.
This primary research could solidify an investor’s conviction on a single platform. Or, on the contrary: it could reinforce the belief that it is difficult to pick winners in a year that is likely to be marked by explosive growth. XRP, XLM, and HBAR sat atop the 2024 CoinDesk 20 Index rankings, an outcome few would have predicted. We believe – and in fact expect – that investors and advisors will favor diversified market beta over the possibility of selective alpha.
Plastic wallet bitcoin holders did not “take the bait” and became active bitcoin enthusiasts (presumably), even though, ex postthey did well to throw the wallet in a drawer for 10 years (with a Post-it® with the secret phrase; phew!). These days I try to take as many opportunities as possible to get people to open a wallet and get some blockchain experience. (But otherwise, I’ll still be good for theater tickets with Fiat.)
