Proof of Keys Explained: Bitcoin's First Planned 'Bank Run' Is Today

How in control a person is of their coins depends on where and how the bitcoin is stored.

So participants will be taking their money out of third-party bitcoin services, moving it to accounts only they themselves control.

Proof of Keys has been compared to a "Bank run," where a flood of people withdraw their money from a bank, worried that the institution is going under.

Big names such as former Symbiont president Caitlin Long, smart contract pioneer Nick Szabo, Coinbase CTO Balaji S. Srinivasan, and CoinKite CEO Rodolfo Novak have all etched the Proof of Keys symbol prominently in their Twitter profiles.

The first task is for users to take control of their private keys.

While bitcoin is "Trustless," most users hand their bitcoin to a third party who takes care of it for them.

The second job for users is to spin up what's known as a bitcoin "Full node," which keeps a history of every transaction ever made on bitcoin, as well as the rules binding the global network together.

"There is some legitimate concern that some people will withdraw their funds from exchanges without knowing how to store them properly" pseudonymous bitcoin subreddit moderator Bashco wrote, posting a few tips for a safe transition.

The way some users talk - calling Proof of Keys "Bitcoin's independence day" and a "Monetary sovereignty war-cry" - it sounds as if the end goal is for all cryptocurrency users to suddenly move their keys to a device they control and spin up full nodes on fancy hardware device, making bitcoin exchanges all but obsolete.

Other Proof of Keys advocates admit that many users cherish convenience, not necessarily having the time or enthusiasm to store their bitcoins securely and spin up a full node.