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Digital Philosophy

Legacy Custodians

Centralized institutions that hold digital assets on behalf of users, creating a permissioned relationship with one’s own wealth — architecturally incompatible with sovereignty.

Definition

Centralized institutions — banks, exchanges, cloud providers — that hold digital assets on behalf of a user, creating a “permissioned” relationship with one’s own wealth. The legacy custodian model requires trust in third parties, compliance with their terms, and acceptance of their jurisdiction. CLAVI exists because this model is architecturally incompatible with sovereignty.

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