Quote Originally Posted by Thunderous Mojo View Post
Hold has an inadvertent technical meaning here: once you are holding something in your hand, this generally means one cannot use that same hand to hold anything else.

From this standpoint: the Crawford ruling is exactly opposite of the rule intent.
Even if we take this view of hold, the ruling doesn't seem to countermand intent. It merely offers two different cost/benefit options for magic shields.
Hold: One hand slot occupied (cost)/magic bonus to AC only (benefit)
Wield: One hand slot occupied + proficiency effects (cost)/magic + mundane bonus to AC (benefit).