Another on-ramp down, cash might be the only safe bet
UK banks and payment service providers are limiting consumer access to crypto services.
Bitcoin Block 781,162
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UK’s NatWest, PaySafe Distance From Crypto as Banks Roil (Blockworks)
After the recent banking collapse, the FED is also on full alert that something is about to break. Crypto companies and tech-related companies have faced a major beating because of all the free money that was injected into them during the frenzy of 2021. Promises were made and large valuations were fixed on things that if analyzed in retrospect make no sense. There were the effects we saw in the loose monetary policy by the FED and a heightened level of FOMOM among retail investors. You heard a coin or token from a friend and rushed towards the laptop to invest your life savings into it. Well, the harsh truth, things don’t work that way. Money easily made is very easily lost as financial resistance does not come with it. And crypto doesn’t leave a chance to empty your wallets, after all, it is highly “accessible”.
So now we face lawsuits, allegations, and stringent regulations in the industry. Are these justified or is just the traditional monetary system unleashing its hatred and anger on things that tend to disrupt it? Well, that is true but not entirely true. You see, people are working in a hierarchy that cares about their consumers and is incentivized to help them. The incentives when influenced are disastrous for the whole system but we can’t blame the whole system it has been operating for quite a while now and was built with good intentions. No government is not the solution, evolution supports that.
The crypto industry has also been on the top when coming up with whacky ideas and displaying a true sense of unprofessionalism and malpractices. World coin gives crypto for eyes, Helium, which rewards people for setting up a machine no one uses for what it was built to do, and Monkey pictures that have made the news more because of some insider trading or someone’s monkey stolen. Is this in the consumer interest and does this better the crypto ecosystem? Not! Was this what Satoshi saw when coming up with bitcoin, that shitcoins would storm the internet with people losing much of their hard-earned money just because the project founders get rich. In the 2021 frenzy, people just saw if a project had a token and then jumped straight in to get to the moon like it was a new spaceship to riches.
But… have banks taken the right approach?
Now, the monetary system has screwed up big time because of the accessory stimulus since 2008. Cracks are appearing and things are looking bleak. The first thing to blame, sure, is crypto. FTX, Celcius, 3AC, and LUNA all have left no stone unturned in tainting the image of crypto. It is an easy target to allow these large institutions to justify their existence. The SEC is now going after every project that aims to sell a token and imposing strict regulation. It is a cat-and-mouse game all over again.
What the prominent crypto supporter, Nic Carter, described as Operation Chokepoint is what seems to be in full swing. Banks supporting the crypto industry have been falling which has been seen with Silvergate and Signature bank. Their unmanaged exposure to the crypto industry and some bad financial management is also at play here but where are the institutions when protecting the consumers here? The big banks are taking advantage of this and strengthening their position leading to more centralization, another trap!
Financial institutions are also clamping down the entry into the crypto industry by inhibiting fiat transfers to the exchanges. Binance has reportedly stopped USD on-ramps and now the same fate has been seen concerning GBP deposits and withdrawals. Paysafe’s crypto-to-fiat provider Skrill has distanced itself from Binance because of regulatory reasons. Binance is the largest exchange by volume and a source of exposure to crypto for many developing nations holds a crucial position and the regulators also are cognizant of this fact. Target the large fish and the smaller ones will come scrambling.
My take is, well, first of all, educate yourself on financial principles and methodologies to better understand how to invest. You can’t get rich quickly without effort, that is a fact but that doesn’t mean it isn’t possible. Read the following post to help your financial outlook grow:
Bitcoin is time-tested and the purest form of money present yet. It is the safest bet but comes with volatility as an opportunity cost. Consider it and invest in risk management.
Custodying your bitcoin is as crucial as accepting it as a monetary exchange. This is because otherwise, it defeats the purpose of owning it. Put it off exchanges, they also don’t want it there, it is their liability.
Don’t run into every coin that is hyped up by your friend or company. Research the fundamentals and criticize them heavily. No crypto project can do “money” better than bitcoin so it has to do something else better. Well, that’s a low chance for success, so see it that way.
Instead of fighting the FED and the large institutions, fight inflation. Preserve your wealth and invest in instruments you understand. Keep it simple.
Hope you enjoyed reading the post.