Adam Back, CEO of Bitcoin infrastructure development company Blockstream and a cryptographer, emphasized that the FTX and Mt. Gox incidents stemmed from a structural problem where exchanges simultaneously custodied customer assets and conducted trading, asserting that trading and custody should be separated. According to BeInCrypto, Adam Back attended BTC Prague 2026, Europe's largest Bitcoin-only event, and stated, "The cryptocurrency industry is still repeating the custodial failures that brought down FTX and Mt. Gox. It is advisable for long-term investors to self-custody their assets and avoid using leverage. I myself lost assets when I redeposited BTC to an exchange, aiming for a 10% arbitrage during the Mt. Gox bankruptcy. At that time, high returns were ultimately the price of high risk. It is advisable for individual investors to self-custody their long-term holdings and avoid taking loans for additional purchases using BTC as collateral. If both collateralized assets and investment assets fall simultaneously, the risk of liquidation can increase." He added, "I have endured all three BTC bear markets to date, and I view BTC's 200-week moving average (approximately $61,000) as a major support level."
