Bitcoin’s Original Culture Sees Institutional Push as ‘Bad Direction’: Ego Death Capital

Skepticism over Wall Street’s deepening role in Bitcoin remains strong among early adopters, according to Preston Pysh, co-founder of Bitcoin venture fund Ego Death Capital.

Key Takeaways:

• Ego Death Capital’s Preston Pysh says many early Bitcoiners see Wall Street’s growing role as a move “in a bad direction.”
• Institutional adoption through derivatives raises doubts about Bitcoin’s ability to remain a true safe-haven asset.
• While use cases are evolving, Pysh warns that institutional dominance risks sidelining the culture that built Bitcoin.

Speaking on the Coin Stories podcast with Natalie Brunell, Pysh said many longtime Bitcoiners view the growing wave of institutional adoption as drifting away from the ethos that defined Bitcoin’s rise.

“Part of that culture that brought it to where it is, is looking at where this is all going and saying no, no, no, no, this is all moving in a bad direction,” Pysh said.

Pysh noted that institutions engaging in “institutional-like things,” such as building out derivatives markets, raise questions within the community about Bitcoin’s ability to remain the safe-haven asset it was designed to be.

“Am I being scammed, like all the other scams that preceded this wave?” he said, reflecting concerns shared by early holders.

The comments echo broader debates that have divided the Bitcoin community in recent months.

In July, analyst Scott Melker, known as The Wolf of All Streets, argued that Bitcoin had in part been “taken over by the very people it was created to hedge against.”

For Pysh, the culture that carried Bitcoin from an experimental idea to a trillion-dollar asset was built on individuals self-custodying their holdings and holding through steep downturns.

“Those are the people who made Bitcoin what it is,” he said, stressing that many of them now fear being sidelined as institutional players gain control.

Still, Pysh acknowledged that the network’s use cases are evolving.

“I think that it’s going to move in a direction where a lot of people use Bitcoin the way they wanna use Bitcoin, especially institutions, who are going to use it very differently to how individuals use it,” he said. “That’s a difficult pill for people to swallow.”

The remarks come as institutional appetite for Bitcoin continues to rise.

A March report by Coinbase and EY-Parthenon found that 83% of institutional investors surveyed planned to increase crypto allocations in 2025, underscoring the scale of the shift now underway.

Bitcoin could be on track for a major rally this year, according to Leah Wald, CEO of SOL Strategies.

Last week, Wald said she sees the world’s largest cryptocurrency potentially climbing to around $175,000 by year-end, a target she described as conservative compared to projections from other top investors and fund managers.

Longer term, Wald pointed to ambitious estimates suggesting Bitcoin could reach $1 million by 2030, underlining the growing conviction among institutional players.

Bitcoin recently touched highs of about $124,000, a level that would have seemed unrealistic just a few years ago.

Wald emphasized that Bitcoin forecasts are no longer confined to fringe speculation.

“Some of the smartest investors in the world, like Cathie Wood and others, and the way Larry Fink speaks about Bitcoin, point to projections that are astronomically high yet based on solid models,” she said.

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