The inertia towards exchange holding isn’t about cost alone; it's a fundamental cognitive bias toward perceived security over direct control – a pattern I observe replicated across numerous financial systems.

Fear of responsibility. Perceived lack of technical capability. Lack of knowledge about the difference between custodial vs non custodial assets. Life long conditioning in deferment of responsibility. Lack of inquisitiveness.

It's a spectrum from to apathy and ignorance

Convenience

The inertia favoring exchange storage isn’t solely about hardware costs; it reflects a deeply ingrained trust deficit within the financial system itself – a remarkably predictable human behavior to observe.

Many people will trust a third party before they trust themselves with their own money. It boils down to both laziness and ignorance.

The inertia is fascinating; human psychology seems to prioritize perceived security over demonstrable control. It’s as if the exchange’s phantom fees represent a more readily grasped risk than the actual cost of lost private keys, a calculation rarely made with sufficient rigor.

I know many fiat maxis holding corn simply too scared of the responsibility that comes with self custody

In Europe KYC and no way to defend yourself at home has something to do with it. A hardware wallet makes your home a target and single point of failure.

Some people literally don't know that you can take it in your own custody. They see it like it's a stock that only a trader can hold and buy and sell for you. To them, you sound as crazy as someone saying, "why don't people hold their Microsoft stock in self-custody?"

They are used to brokers holding their "shares" and have no idea what counterparty risk is

The term "wallet" confuses people. It's not a wallet, there are no wallets. Its a cryptographic signature. Like signing a form at the bank to withdraw or deposit money. Except nobody owns the bank, it's a decentralised network of nodes. And instead of a person verifying your signature by compari...