Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has publicly criticized MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor for advocating that crypto assets, such as Bitcoin, should be held by large financial institutions like BlackRock and Fidelity.

Buterin referred to Saylor’s approach as “batshit insane,” arguing that crypto’s foundational value lies in decentralization, not institutional control​.

Buterin emphasized that a regulatory capture strategy, where lawmakers and law enforcement would inherently support entities like BlackRock due to their custody of crypto assets, has historical precedents for failure.

For Buterin, centralized custody undermines what crypto is fundamentally about—individual self-sovereignty and decentralized control​

The remarks come as part of a broader backlash against Saylor, who in recent years has amassed over 250,000 Bitcoin for MicroStrategy.

Many in the crypto community, including Buterin, see Saylor’s shift towards institutional control as a step in the wrong direction, potentially jeopardizing the very ethos that gave birth to Bitcoin​

Buterin also acknowledged that some of his past views, such as promoting the “mountain man” trope of self-sufficiency in crypto, may be outdated due to advancements like zero-knowledge proofs and other technologies.

However, he remains firm that regulatory capture, as endorsed by Saylor, is a dangerous route for the future of digital currencies​

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