For anyone that Doesn't know what Proof of Keys is it was an Idea that began in 2018 by Trace Mayer on twitter that involved the Bitcoin community as a whole retaking control of their Funds if only for a day. Most people leave a lot of their Bitcoin on centralized exchanges which are often prone to hacks, exit scams, insolvency and as of today are increasingly enforcing a creeping KYC on their users.

https://twitter.com/TraceMayer/status/1071870548421066753


Proof Of keys was meant as way for the Bitcoin community of retaking and exercising control of their bitcoins ( not your keys not your Coins) by simultaneously withdrawing all their Bitcoins every January 3rd of the year from centralized exchanges, third-party bitcoin services and Custodial wallet providers and moving it to private wallets controlled by themselves.

This was meant as a way of exposing exchanges that were perhaps running fractional reserves, faking trading Volumes and/or generally being disingenuous with their users. This would also highlight the true sovereignty that bitcoin provides to holders.

However 2 years on the movement doesn't seem to have gained as much traction as originally hoped (maybe somewhat forgotten), with community participation being somewhat limited based on, on chain data which did not suggest any spike in transactions on or leading up to January 3rd in both 2019 and 2020.

And yet even with this limited participation many exchanges were reported to have delayed/frozen withdrawals or haltied trading for supposed maintenance either a few days or a week leading up to the proof of keys event including Hitbtc, Robinhood, Poloniex, Qudriga ( Exit scammed later )

Given the limited participation and how critical this can be as a regular way of keeping exchanges in check what do you think can be done to spread greater Awareness about Proof Of keys and ensure greater community participation (perhaps limited participation was because so many people still dont know how to use private wallets safely and simply use exchanges for storing all of their cryptos)when the Next proof of keys event takes place in 2021.

What is Proof of Keys

https://www.proofofkeys.com/

https://academy.binance.com/security/the-ultimate-guide-to-proof-of-keys-day

Other Sources and Useful Links

https://www.coindesk.com/proof-of-keys-bitcoin-bank-run
https://www.coinspeaker.com/proof-of-keys-exchanges/
https://news.bitcoin.com/proof-of-keys-day-returns-on-bitcoins-11th-birthday/
https://icoexaminer.com/ico-news/cryptos-day-for-proof-of-keys/
https://bitcoinist.com/not-your-keys-not-your-coins-what-proof-of-keys-day-means-in-2020/