Ledger CEO: The collapse of banks is a ‘crash course to Bitcoin’ | PBW 2023

The collapse of major banks highlights the need for Bitcoin (BTC) and self-custody according to Pascal Gauthier, the CEO and Chairman of hardware wallet provider Ledger. 

In an interview with Cointelegraph reporter Joseph Hall at the Paris Blockchain Week, Gauthier spoke about how recent events show how BTC can be a safe haven against the threat of central authorities. He explained that:

“Bitcoin was designed in reaction to Lehman Brothers in the 2008 crisis. It was designed because you can’t trust central authorities. And, it’s designed because it’s clear that central authorities will fail. It’s not a question of if. It’s more a question of when.”

According to Gauthier, whenever incidents like Celsius, FTX and bank collapses happen, people, flock to self-custody and to crypto. “Whenever the market gets stressed and whenever people fear for their savings, you know, they rush to crypto and to Ledger,” he pointed out.

In addition, the Ledger executive also believes that people are starting to notice the reality of banks because of the current situation. Gauthier explained that many people come from the idea that the purpose of banks is to safeguard people’s funds because even if banks fail, people will be reimbursed. However, this may not be the case.

“They’re figuring out that actually, it’s not necessarily the case. And so it’s troublesome. But again, it’s a crash course to Bitcoin and why it exists and why it’s necessary for the future,” he explained.

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When asked if traditional brands coming into Web3 can potentially become a threat to the decentralization of crypto, Gauthier expressed confidence that this will not happen. He said:

“If this happens, then crypto is dead and then we move on to the next thing. I mean, it’s either crypto will be decentralized or will not be. And all these brands actually do understand this.”

According to the Ledger CEO, brands were able to learn a lesson from Facebook’s failure to respect the ethos of crypto which is decentralization. “We’ve seen the movie now, you know, they [Facebook] failed because they didn’t respect some of the fundamental principles of what crypto is,” he said. He added that anyone trying to centralize crypto is destined to fail. According to Gauthier, these are “two magnets that’s just not going to stick together.”

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