Can you back these claims up? An investor who puts millions into FTX, Voyager or Celsius (as recent examples of collapsed crypto firms) isn't a serious one.
No, those investors didn't do their research into those companies and/or were swindled by criminals. But nobody serious puts giant portions of their large portfolio in the top drawer or their desk. They rely on an institution that has (or says they have) multiple layers of security and processes e.g. like a bank).
So, you can't back these claims up.
Except that every person I know invests in Bitcoin using a broker, and brokers do billions of dollars in transactions every single day and are billion dollar concerns, and the idea that most large investors would physically hold their investment on their iPhone is rather ridiculous to me, then yes, I suppose this is just my own opinion about the market. I could be wrong.
But I'm personally betting everything I have on being right about this...
Not "every single one", that's why I said "almost". Here's a documented timeline of hacked exchanges: [...]
Shall I google all of the stories about people who have physically lost their private keys?
There's obviously no perfect solution, and everybody can make their own decision about this, but the existence of large banks and brokers in the civilized world that hold most consumer wealth tells me that most people want to trust somebody else to guard their major wealth, not do it themselves.
Correct. That is all possible because you put those assets in your own name and didn't purchase them anonymously.
Am I noticing a contradiction here?
If you buy a house and don't report it to the government, somebody can come steal your house and you will have no recourse.
It is simply possible because Bitcoin works outside the government's supervision. It doesn't matter the slightest whether you report your Bitcoin holdings or not. If a thief compromises your keys, you cannot resort to any institution.
You either put something in your name, e.g. your home, car, savings account or brokerage account, or you keep your wealth physically on your person secretly without the government's knowledge and fend for yourself. I think we're saying the same thing.
My thesis here is that
most consumers don't want to live in this world when it comes to their "large" assets (the opposite of what they want with the "small" cash in their wallet). They have other things to do besides guard their major wealth like they would living in feudal times.