tl;dr Ask your Bank next time when go in, Can I buy Bitcoin here? [imply they are missing out on business]
FV (full version)
Every time I go to the Bank, the teller always asks, after I finish,
Teller "can I help you with anything else?"
Today I decided to ask,
Me "Do you sell or exchange Bitcoin?"
Interestingly the Teller knew about Bitcoin, and seemed to have had some sort of internal briefing from the Bank about what to say.
Essentially the Teller sort of referred to some sort of legislation (which actually doesn't exist), but it boiled down to the Bank did know where the money is coming from.
I decided gently push and inquired about currency exchange, eg it I give $500 AUD for $USD or the other way around and suggested that the bank was missing out on opportunity to make some profit.
I was very polite at all times.
The other Teller was also listening in.
I think the banks feel a little flumoxed by BTC and sort of vaguely aware that their Banking Institution is facing competition for services from a non state actor.
Eg one Statement the teller made was that Bitcoin wasn't backed by anything. This is what Banks/old money find hard to understand. They are used to the banking lenience given out by the State for their monopoly on money, debt issuance and being an. Authorised Deposit-taking Institutions (ADIs).
This sort of throws into issue larger questions that most people don't think about like state actors legitimacy as a source of power and its limits and ambit, though indirectly.
"If the State is not behind it why does it have value?"
