Is it possible to live without banks?

[Abiky]

I doubt stable coins would be used as a payment method. It'd probably be similar to how Bitcoin is, an alternative. Digital fiat would dominate e-commerce sites no matter how I see it with how easy it is plus, it doesn't have fees. Not to mention that some apps even offer cashback. Even in the long term, I see Bitcoin as an alternative, for when you want to purchase something anonymously or something. The system of Bitcoin right now is way too forced and is mostly seen as an investment or speculative asset, which really kills the concept of what Bitcoin is supposed to be. This just makes users that have Bitcoin hodl, instead of actually using them for everyday life as a currency.

That's certainly true, mate. Bitcoin has a long way to go before it'll be able to replace (if ever) the current monetary system. Banks are still too powerful, as Fiat is the number one type of currency used for mainstream commerce. The fact that Bitcoin is slow, has unstable prices on the market, and fees are high, makes it a terrible "replacement" of banks. Merchants and businesses will continue to use Fiat (either digital or physical) because of the convenience banks provide in the mainstream world. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies will continue to be an "alternative" than a true contender of the world's monetary system.

Given all the challenges crypto has, I doubt that it'll be possible to live without a bank. One way or another, you're going to need a bank account in order to send/receive payments. Traditional job salaries are paid in Fiat, which often require a bank account. Governments also require bank accounts in order to collect taxes from you. Even if you're still using physical cash without a bank account, you're still trusting the banking system. While we're seeing an increase of adoption for crypto-only payments, it's not enough for you to live without a bank. We just have to "move on" with what we have available in order to survive in the mainstream world. Remember, one can live without crypto but not without banks. It's often good for you to have both a bank account and a crypto wallet in order to minimize risks as much as possible. Just my opinion

[finaleshot2016]

Not possible life without bank because many people need to borrow money from the bank and make their business, not available for borrowing in bitcoin and altcoin and then not have institution available for every one could borrow bitcoin or altcoin, now day many country have several bank kinds and give good service for every one to save their money.

Yes its not possible for now because banks has a participation to our economy to boom. Its like a cycle giving and taking. So crypto and banks will co exist and that would be beneficial for us right? There's no need to get rid the banks because its essential part of our lives and economy.

Banks aren't that important for those persons which are only dealing in cryptocurrencies but if someone wants cash then they somehow always need a bank in the process. Also for the people who doesn't know about bitcoins and what cryptocurrencies are, they always need banks and are an essential part of their lives. There should be a way devised to remove the necessity of banks for selling and buying cryptocurrencies in general. If a project is developed to solve this problem then I bet the ICO will raise tremendous amount of funds.

Well, those who invested or dealing in cryptocurrency only will need banks soon. When BTC hits ATH, they will convert it now into fiat and where do you think they will put that huge money? definitely in banks. Banks always serve as a great part, especially in our economy. It has a lot of advantages and makes it very important that must exist in a community.

[Alt Coiner]

With the world's economy collapsing, people are looking for alternative safe-haven assets to use in times of turmoil. Interest in crypto has sparked a lot ever since the stock market went on a decline. If people decide to use crypto, precious metals, and physical cash, will it be possible to live a normal life without a bank?

In my case, I'd be willing to exit the banking system in order to have true sovereignty over my money. After all, that's what crypto is all about. If you could live your normal life without the need to ever interact with a bank (having a bank account to make transactions, etc), it'll be a blast. With the world shifting towards the online realm for e-commerce, virtual meetings, and more, it seems likely that people will be using decentralized money more thoroughly. There are still people using credit/debit cards, but that may change soon as Fiat becomes hyper-inflated.

What are your thoughts?

I believe that as long as a country will maintain a central bank to regulate and monitor existing banks within their country, banks are here to stay.

Moreover, banks may still continue to co-exist with cryptocurrencies as long as the traditional banking needs of the people aren't totally replaced by other options instead.

Coincidentally, unless the country itself would declare that they won't be needing a central bank anymore, I don't actually see that it's possible yet to live without banks, in the traditional sense of what a bank is currently defined.

[FlightyPouch]

Not possible life without bank because many people need to borrow money from the bank and make their business, not available for borrowing in bitcoin and altcoin and then not have institution available for every one could borrow bitcoin or altcoin, now day many country have several bank kinds and give good service for every one to save their money.

Yes its not possible for now because banks has a participation to our economy to boom. Its like a cycle giving and taking. So crypto and banks will co exist and that would be beneficial for us right? There's no need to get rid the banks because its essential part of our lives and economy.

Banks aren't that important for those persons which are only dealing in cryptocurrencies but if someone wants cash then they somehow always need a bank in the process. Also for the people who doesn't know about bitcoins and what cryptocurrencies are, they always need banks and are an essential part of their lives. There should be a way devised to remove the necessity of banks for selling and buying cryptocurrencies in general. If a project is developed to solve this problem then I bet the ICO will raise tremendous amount of funds.

Well, those who invested or dealing in cryptocurrency only will need banks soon. When BTC hits ATH, they will convert it now into fiat and where do you think they will put those huge money? Definitely in banks.  

Bitcoin is treated and used not as a currency but mostly as a investment, an asset where you can earn in a short or long period of time. Even though it is decentralized, it doesn't mean that it will he the start to pull out the government financial ways. We are being given choices, options that we can use to our convinience, let's not think of it as something that will take down banks.

[Serco]

bank was very needed in our life, if we dont use this services how do we work to global community meanwhile all payment now use online tehnology. we want to start business most of us use money from bank lending. only less people use their own money to start. many bank advantages could make our life easier , compared with in past condition where there is no bank service. everything need long time for money tranfering.

[jademaxsuy]

bank was very needed in our life, if we dont use this services how do we work to global community meanwhile all payment now use online tehnology. we want to start business most of us use money from bank lending. only less people use their own money to start. many bank advantages could make our life easier , compared with in past condition where there is no bank service. everything need long time for money tranfering.

Yeah I had now feel the importance of using banks or credit that could be cashless transactions. There is no hassle when you go outside for a shopping buying goods and essentilas for you will have the need to bring the atm or credit card and few cents. It will definitely lessen the burden especially now that we are in the pandemic keeping away of having exchanges using medium (the money) to which virus were more likely to be transmitted from.the one with virus as study shows that the covid19 could survive more on metals like coins.

[GDragon]

bank was very needed in our life, if we dont use this services how do we work to global community meanwhile all payment now use online tehnology. we want to start business most of us use money from bank lending. only less people use their own money to start. many bank advantages could make our life easier , compared with in past condition where there is no bank service. everything need long time for money tranfering.

Yeah I had now feel the importance of using banks or credit that could be cashless transactions. There is no hassle when you go outside for a shopping buying goods and essentilas for you will have the need to bring the atm or credit card and few cents. It will definitely lessen the burden especially now that we are in the pandemic keeping away of having exchanges using medium (the money) to which virus were more likely to be transmitted from.the one with virus as study shows that the covid19 could survive more on metals like coins.

Yup, as of the moment I didn't see the future without banks. We are living with it, every salary, every purchase and etc. We rely to banks. It may be true that there are a lot of people who doesn't need it. But still banks makes our life easier. Digital payment is still better with banks compared to btc, we have to admit it. And for btc to overpower banks, its not our choice, it will be the choice of the people, the society, the government etc, there is so much to think of, we are still very far. They don't see banks disappearing in the future too.

[Abiky]

I believe that as long as a country will maintain a central bank to regulate and monitor existing banks within their country, banks are here to stay.

Moreover, banks may still continue to co-exist with cryptocurrencies as long as the traditional banking needs of the people aren't totally replaced by other options instead.

Coincidentally, unless the country itself would declare that they won't be needing a central bank anymore, I don't actually see that it's possible yet to live without banks, in the traditional sense of what a bank is currently defined.

Completely agree with you. By the looks of it, banks won't be going anywhere. Governments still rely on central banks in order to maintain their economies. Which means that Fiat as a centralized type of currency, will reign supreme for a very long time. Crypto is just an alternative to the existing monetary system and nothing else. As long as it remains decentralized, there should be nothing to worry about. We have to face the fact that without banks, our economy would never be the same.

For a long time, people have trusted Fiat as a medium of exchange because it's backed by the government. In the case of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, it's a "free for all" scenario where you are solely responsible of your funds. The average person will find it quite hard to use crypto over Fiat because of the steep learning curve and higher responsibilities involved when using it. Since Fiat is stable (unlike crypto) it has gathered the likes of mainstream businesses and merchants alike. Because of this reason, living without banks seems to be a dream than anything else. Just my thoughts

[Zackgeno96]

Not possible life without bank because many people need to borrow money from the bank and make their business, not available for borrowing in bitcoin and altcoin and then not have institution available for every one could borrow bitcoin or altcoin, now day many country have several bank kinds and give good service for every one to save their money.

Yes its not possible for now because banks has a participation to our economy to boom. Its like a cycle giving and taking. So crypto and banks will co exist and that would be beneficial for us right? There's no need to get rid the banks because its essential part of our lives and economy.

Banks aren't that important for those persons which are only dealing in cryptocurrencies but if someone wants cash then they somehow always need a bank in the process. Also for the people who doesn't know about bitcoins and what cryptocurrencies are, they always need banks and are an essential part of their lives. There should be a way devised to remove the necessity of banks for selling and buying cryptocurrencies in general. If a project is developed to solve this problem then I bet the ICO will raise tremendous amount of funds.

Well, those who invested or dealing in cryptocurrency only will need banks soon. When BTC hits ATH, they will convert it now into fiat and where do you think they will put that huge money? definitely in banks. Banks always serve as a great part, especially in our economy. It has a lot of advantages and makes it very important that must exist in a community.

I was also saying the same thing that banks will be needed in the process if the seller wants a safe option of selling his coins or maybe e can convert his coins to USDT for some time until he finds an alternative. Although exchanging bitcoins for cash in person is also a good choice but the privacy factor and security gets compromised in the process and it is a concern for many people while dealing in cryptocurrencies as they prefer to be anonymous most of the times, but if they want to skip the banks as a mediator then they have to sacrifice the anonymity. 

[South Park]

Well, those who invested or dealing in cryptocurrency only will need banks soon. When BTC hits ATH, they will convert it now into fiat and where do you think they will put that huge money? definitely in banks. Banks always serve as a great part, especially in our economy. It has a lot of advantages and makes it very important that must exist in a community.

Some will do that, but whales which are the biggest holders of bitcoin are getting bigger instead of smaller this means they are not showing any interest in selling their coins and keep that money in the banks, they are showing they trust in bitcoin and that they are still accumulating it despite the fact bitcoin has been unable to break its previous ATH for 2 years and a half, so when bitcoin reaches a new ATH I will not be surprised if people sell their coins to get a stable coin and wait for the crash just to get more bitcoin in return.

[XEsseKasper]

I would like to add to this discussion legal framework. Countries are now recognizing crypto currencies, and in Germany you can deposit your crypto money with the bank. You would have also to pay taxes on your income even if it is in crypto. It is too early to speak about independency from banks

[Zackgeno96]

I would like to add to this discussion legal framework. Countries are now recognizing crypto currencies, and in Germany you can deposit your crypto money with the bank. You would have also to pay taxes on your income even if it is in crypto. It is too early to speak about independency from banks

I guess there will be a time in the future when banks and crypto will co-relate with each other and as you said the thing about taxes, so we will be paying taxes for sure but that tax would be probably like the tax currently on real estate gains, you would only have to pay taxes if you cashout your bitcoins and if not, then you can have a tax free life. But for now, there are a lot of problems for the crypto users that are trying to convert their earnings in crypto to cash via bank transfers in quite a lot of countries.

[Philipping]

People are foolish and lazy more than you expect.
As the economy collapses, people will be more afraid and will search for safe places to save their money, so they will head towards gold and buy more gold.
Digital investments have not been able to impose themselves forcefully. citizens have not heard of cryptocurrencies, part of them has not used them, and it is easy to deceive them if they want to use them.

[TrevorS]

Now it is obviously impossible to abandon banks in a short time, people are too used to them and many of them have very tightly linked their lives with the activities of banks.
Now too many people owe a lot of money to banks, who will help them give them back? Nobody, only them. At the same time, banks will not allow them to lose their profits and not take their debts.
Therefore, to destroy the banking system, you first need to create a system in which people will not need banks.

[ecnalubma]

First people on this planet lived without banks, therefore we could also live without it however it might be hard to make adjustments specially that we so dependent on it for a very long time.

Even if the cryptocurrency will become more stable form of payment, it could take decades before we are all transitioned or adopt the new system.

[chikading2016]

I believe that we can still live without bank. Beause we can see that from our ancestors they didnt use bank and yet they can still survive, as long as we can save money in our own way without using a bank  we can live, people are now using a bank and it seems like bank is now important, but as what i have seen we can still live without bank life will not stop if the bank will be closed.

[finaleshot2016]

I believe that we can still live without bank. Beause we can see that from our ancestors they didnt use bank and yet they can still survive, as long as we can save money in our own way without using a bank  we can live, people are now using a bank and it seems like bank is now important, but as what i have seen we can still live without bank life will not stop if the bank will be closed.

Without the bank everyone will survive but the problem is, can the money survive without a bank? Here's the point. Their generation is not like us which has the adaptation to use money to buy needs to survive. Even a kid already has plenty to save and the bank is one of the best ways to protect it. When I was a kid, I earned plenty of money during Christmas or birthday, I want to spend it on expensive toys or console so I need to save more. So, my mother used to open a personal bank for me and It's kinda effective since I earned and didn't notice that I already have a lot of money to buy things that I want.

Some can live and some can't without banks, that's the thing here.

[Zemomtum]

Even though digital assets will serve as a great alternative in the nearest future, we are going to still need banks to convert to fiat in order to cater for our needs. At the moment, digital assets are not an acceptable means of exchange universally.

[FlightyPouch]

I believe that we can still live without bank. Beause we can see that from our ancestors they didnt use bank and yet they can still survive, as long as we can save money in our own way without using a bank  we can live, people are now using a bank and it seems like bank is now important, but as what i have seen we can still live without bank life will not stop if the bank will be closed.

But you should also consider that at that time, our ancestors are not really using money or fiat but just using their items to trade with other items. That is when they started also to use gold. Still, I don't think they needed a bank for that since they will still exchange that to something of the same worth like linen and other valuable stuff at that time.

Our ancestors did that and I think all of the ancestors of this world begun trading things and did not use paper money which I think would be very hectic to manage or administer.

[STT]

Dollar is a digital currency though so thats not the issue, almost all the value contained in its monetary base is not notes but digital elements on a centralised balance sheet.    Those balance sheets play off each other and one mans value is another mans debt so its digital but not distributed like crypto arranges.
   You can live without a bank, but it'll mean deflation as banks expand and enable lending in a fractional way.  Crypto does not allow this expansion afaik.   I was looking into a country's arguments for independence and the main part of their ignorance is the cost to their actions, cause and effect is observable and predictable even in an economy.   They can become a new country and they may establish their own currency but there is a natural deflation to this process most likely, the cost to discarding banks is that economy will have to pay short term for lower monetary velocity probably.    If people want to pay the price then its possible, if they hope to take ambitious actions giant in their scope and suffer no pain or work to do so then no its not a realistic prospect.