According to Bitcoin Magazine, citing Barron’s, Robbie Mitchnick, Head of Digital Assets at BlackRock, said that the volume of large holders converting their self-custodied BTC into IBIT shares has reached an all-time high, with clients citing safety and peace of mind as their primary reason. August 2026: In an interview with Bloomberg, Mitchnick noted that incidents of kidnapping, extortion, and custody failures have prompted some holders to convert part or all of their positions into ETFs. November 9, 2026: Barron’s reported new developments in such conversions, stating that BlackRock has processed approximately $3.6 billion, with the minimum threshold lowered to around $1 million to $2 million, facilitated by institutional partners including Galaxy, Talos, and Virtu. All of the above are media reports. My perspective: It’s understandable that concerns over personal safety lead individuals to choose ETFs. After conversion, what they hold are fund shares in a brokerage account, with the underlying BTC custodied by institutions—no longer controlling their own private keys. While this relieves them of the burden of self-custody, it also means accepting the constraints of the brokerage and custodial system. For those wishing to continue self-custody, a 2-of-3 multisig setup is recommended: distribute devices and keys across different brands and channels, ensuring no single location can meet the signing threshold. This reduces the risk of single-point theft but cannot prevent ongoing physical coercion. It’s also critical to minimize exposure of one’s holdings information.