It’s already passed nearly every individual equity besides Apple, NVIDIA, and Microsoft. From here, bitcoin will increasingly be measured against entire asset classes—gold, treasuries, bonds, and national currencies. As more allocators recognize this shift, the case for bitcoin as a core holding—not a speculative flyer—grows stronger.
New Research from Early Riders
This week, Early Riders released part two of its research series "Why Multi-Institution Custody Is Winner Take All" explaining why MIC is emerging as the superior framework for bitcoin custody.
Part 1 – A Brief History of Money, Bearer Assets & Custodians
Early Riders introduces the custody dilemma at the heart of bitcoin adoption: $600B+ lost to hacks, fraud, and mismanagement. Part 1 traces the evolution of bearer asset custody from ancient temples to modern banks, showing how bitcoin—unlike gold—can avoid centralization through native multisig. The piece lays out how MIC leverages bitcoin’s programmability and auditability to solve legacy custody flaws and unlock a new design space for financial services, inheritance, and institutional-grade security.
Part 2 – Preceding Custodial Options, What Is MIC, & Its Benefits
Part 2 dives into the specifics of MIC—how it works, why it’s needed, and why it wins. From FTX and BlockFi to Ledger and Bybit, the failures of centralization and self-custody are mounting. MIC distributes keys across independent, regulated institutions, creating real fault tolerance without ceding unilateral control. The report outlines MIC’s technical architecture, benefits across user types, and why rising bitcoin adoption, demographic shifts, and growing attack surfaces make this model the only scalable path forward for long-term custody.
For bitcoin to absorb meaningful flow from the ~$1 quadrillion global asset landscape, it needs infrastructure that large pools of capital can trust. MIC provides the security, transparency, and operational resilience needed to make that possible.
Still Early
Most people still aren’t paying attention. That’s what makes this moment so fascinating. Bitcoin is climbing the global asset leaderboard. Federal, state, and local governments are adopting it. The banking system is beginning to accommodate it. Corporates and institutions are beginning to accumulate. Every day, a new decision-maker wakes up and realizes that zero bitcoin exposure no longer feels prudent.
Chart of the Week
