Bitcoin Forum

Just as a point of interest, has anyone noticed an unusual and disproportionate (i.e. more so than your friends or peers) difficulty in interacting with banks and building societies since beginning to interact with Bitcoin or other cryptocurrency? Some banks do outright terminate accounts on the basis of blockchain-related activity, but I'm thinking of a more insidious type of interference (such as not processing KYC/AML expediently) or anything you have noticed?

No more than usual. Financial institutions have always been screwing with me one way or another, going way back before Bitcoin even existed. The current scam is to insist that I buy life insurance with every transaction, despite nobody actually having an insurable interest in my life (I'm unmarried, unemployed, and have no dependants or business partners). Maybe that's why they try to get me to buy life insurance - they know they'll never have to pay out. ::)

I really think they have far more data on you than they would ever let you believe. Still, I think they're trying to suppress the Bitcoin revolution by deliberately targeting involved customers. It does threaten the entire industry, so they have serious incentive to do so.

I haven't noticed anything. I guess it depends a lot of the country you're in. But most often, your bank will not know you do anything with BTC. You may wire money to a company which has "bitcoin" in its name, and then what? Nothing.

I'm in the UK whose banks are particularly Bitcoin unfriendly. I have two main accounts and have used both for localbitcoins buys, sending money to Bitstamp, and buying with a card through Circle. Neither bank have a problem with me.

Well here you can have problems with banks, also depends on how much bitcoin you move If you handle amounts up to a bitcoin in a week it depends on who may or may not have problems.

Here you can withdraw money at almost any bank but almost all companies to accept deposits work with the same bank.

I'm talking about the case of Venezuela where it is illegal to have dollars it sounds ridiculous but so is this country.  ;D

Most recently Santander debit cards refuse to work with Circle because of an issue with 3D Verified by Visa technology; though I think the wild goose chase was born entirely of their disapproval of Circle. Interestingly, though, it seems like Circle want to abstract themselves from their involvement with Bitcoin as far as possible (such as stating "Enter an email address" in the payee field, and other subtle hints). Maybe this is just regulatory dogma, but nevertheless...


It is interesting that there hasn't been a major price spike because of Venezuela's monetary policy problems; are there shortcomings with the provision of Bitcoin in Venezuela/lack of trust?

Yes. I had to dig around a fair bit to find the Bitcoin section. I wonder whether they plan to leave it behind completely. It would be a large waste of time and effort if they did but they're looking to go enormous.

I did not notice any difficulties and excitement. Cryptocurrency does not affect the activity of banks. At the level of development cryptocurrency where she is now.

Bitkoints or other cryptocurrency not yet occupies a very strong position. This prevents cryptocurrency affect the activity of banks. If there is impact, it is a minimum

I do get that feeling actually, and I think they want to piggy-back on the Bitcoin blockchain as a means of funds transfer which is much faster, cheaper and more efficient than SWIFT or other conventional transfer. This isn't a bad thing in itself, but it might attract regulatory attention to BTC and Circle's patrons won't be introduced to the technology (or we the Bitcoin community).


It is a surprise activity is still low, >7 years after the genesis block. I'd be surprised if there are any more than 100,000 users who actively engage with Bitcoin.