Author: Matt Whitlock 2015-01-20 17:23:14
Published on: 2015-01-20T17:23:14+00:00
In a conversation with a lawyer specializing in finance law, Peter Todd came to the conclusion that Bitcoin wallet software authors may have a custodial relationship with their users. This is particularly concerning as such relationships are heavily regulated. The reason for this is that most jurisdictions define a custodial relationship as having the ability to dispose of an asset without necessarily having the right to do so. In the case of exchange or "online" wallets that possess private keys to their users' bitcoins, they clearly have the ability to spend those bitcoins, thereby creating a custodial relationship. However, possession of a private key is equivalent to ownership of the bitcoins controlled by that key, thus negating any custodial relationship.
Updated on: 2023-06-09T15:41:19.853418+00:00