"Be your own Bank with Bitcoin" - A reminder why this is so important!

[Kakmakr]

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/woman-holds-up-lebanese-bank-13000-her-own-money-advocacy-group-says-2022-09-14/

" One woman with a gun and some associates briefly held hostages at a branch of BLOM Bank (BLOM.BY) in the capital Beirut, before leaving with more than $13,000 in cash from her account.... "

" Lebanon's banks have locked most depositors out of their savings since an economic crisis took hold three years ago, leaving much of the population unable to pay for basics. "

Let's just imagine this scenario where you have to "rob" a Bank to get access to your own money that you deposited with them. We think these things are impossible, but it is happening and this is a reminder that it does still happen. 

Bitcoin allows you to be your OWN Bank .....and it allows you to have access to your own money, without any intermediary having the power to block it. Just make sure that you have sole access to your Private keys. 

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[mk4]

Bitcoin doesn't remove the risks of you getting mugged. If anything, it's potentially worse with bitcoin/crypto. They just hit you with a wrench at your home until you give up access to your wallet. Hence why being private/secretive about your holdings is very important!

https://cryptosec.info/wrench-attack/

[Maus0728]

I think that is related to this viral video in social media posted by @yazher - Well! Bitcoin doesn't have this problem

But again, using the same argument, people still needs to convert bitcoin into their local currency in which they will withdraw thru banks particularly if an establishment does not accept bitcoin and the country does not recognize bitcoin as legal tender.

[Kakmakr]

Bitcoin doesn't remove the risks of you getting mugged. If anything, it's potentially worse with bitcoin/crypto. They just hit you with a wrench at your home until you give up access to your wallet. Hence why being private/secretive about your holdings is very important!

https://cryptosec.info/wrench-attack/

Well, it's the same for anything that holds value : Your car .... your cellphone.... your Fiat wallet or even the pincode for your debit card. You are not going to stop thieves and criminals from taking wealth from you, but when you trust a financial entity from securing your wealth ...and they start denying you access to your wealth... well that is something different all together.  

Also remember.... people getting robbed are isolated incidents... but a whole nation being prohibited to have access to their wealth, is something that needs to be highlighted.  

[mk4]

Well, it's the same for anything that holds value : Your car .... your cellphone.... your Fiat wallet or even the pincode for your debit card. You are not going to stop thieves and criminals from taking wealth from you, but when you trust a financial entity from securing your wealth ...and they start denying you access to your wealth... well that is something different all together.  

Very true! But in this case we're talking about armed criminals though.

Also, getting your bitcoin/crypto stolen is far more of a complicated situation than getting your car/phone/wallet/debitcard stolen.

[Charles-Tim]

Also remember.... people getting robbed are isolated incidents... but a whole nation being prohibited to have access to their wealth, is something that needs to be highlighted. 

This is one of the freedom bitcoin gives, you do not have to depend on anybody, organization or central authority before you can buy, store and use bitcoin. But people will always remain being people, they like centralization, that is why it is not surprising that people uses centralized exchanges to hold bitcoin, which gives power to another central authorities. But you are not wrong, bitcoin helps in so many ways, just like this that you created this opening post about. Bitcoin makes it possible for not to fall victim of such central authority control over your own money.

[Henrobakkara]

I think that is related to this viral video in social media posted by @yazher - Well! Bitcoin doesn't have this problem

But again, using the same argument, people still needs to convert bitcoin into their local currency in which they will withdraw thru banks particularly if an establishment does not accept bitcoin and the country does not recognize bitcoin as legal tender.

Quite frankly what I was thinking about. In my local community, none of the shops or even the much bigger shopping malls accept Bitcoin payment so what can I still do with my Bitcoin? I believe even when we still understand the beauty and usefulness of HODLing Bitcoin there is still this limitation now in many locations.

[Charles-Tim]

Quite frankly what I was thinking about. In my local community, none of the shops or even the much bigger shopping malls accept Bitcoin payment.

In my country, no shop, shopping mall, or big shopping malls accepts bitcoin or other crypto payment, but I can still be able to convert to fiat and spend. Peer-to-peer makes this very easy, which is one of the reason bitcoin was created. Not only because of central authorities, bit also because of continuous high inflation rate in my country, I prefer to just leave my money in bitcoin and other crypto. Which is better.

so what can I still do with my Bitcoin? I believe even when we still understand the beauty and usefulness of HODLing Bitcoin there is still this limitation now in many locations.

The only limitation would be from countries that totally banned bitcoin, and there are less than 15 countries among hundreds of countries in the world that totally banned bitcoin. Most countries make bitcoin legal, mute about it or just placed an implicit ban on it in a way citizens can still be able to trade bitcoin.

Even about the ban, I was surprised that China that totally banned bitcoin still ranked 10th in crypto adoption index, according to Chainanalysis:

https://blog.chainalysis.com/reports/2022-global-crypto-adoption-index/ report.

[Despairo]

You're forget if most of people who currently hold Bitcoin are using centralized exchanges e.g. Binance, Coinbase etc, they're not using Bitcoin as their own bank, but they're still trusting other centralized party about their coins. Non custodial wallet are very underrated because most people doesn't get enough knowledge and there's no promotion that will make people know those non custodial wallet. Don't forget you need to use Bisq in order to make your Bitcoin is untouchable against governments.

[Zilon]

I think that is related to this viral video in social media posted by @yazher - Well! Bitcoin doesn't have this problem

But again, using the same argument, people still needs to convert bitcoin into their local currency in which they will withdraw thru banks particularly if an establishment does not accept bitcoin and the country does not recognize bitcoin as legal tender.

Not when they know their banks will deny them access to their funds. How will i go ahead to covert from Bitcoin to fiat when i know i will not access the funds afterwards. Humans finds a way to adapt to new developments be it positive or negative. The case of Lebanese Citizens Bitcoin is their only way around and by so i mean the p2p feature originally proposed by Satoshi. CEX shouldn't even be an option because it can be used against the citizens as well.

[Cookdata]

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/woman-holds-up-lebanese-bank-13000-her-own-money-advocacy-group-says-2022-09-14/

" One woman with a gun and some associates briefly held hostages at a branch of BLOM Bank (BLOM.BY) in the capital Beirut, before leaving with more than $13,000 in cash from her account.... "

" Lebanon's banks have locked most depositors out of their savings since an economic crisis took hold three years ago, leaving much of the population unable to pay for basics. "

Let's just imagine this scenario where you have to "rob" a Bank to get access to your own money that you deposited with them. We think these things are impossible, but it is happening and this is a reminder that it does still happen.  

Bitcoin allows you to be your OWN Bank .....and it allows you to have access to your own money, without any intermediary having the power to block it. Just make sure that you have sole access to your Private keys.  

Okay but this is bad and this might not be the best analogy to spread adoption in my opinion. I mean holding a living as a hostage because you weren't allowed to have access to money with a gun on bank premises is a big offence. Banks can be so frustrating and I can talk from experience but you don't want to get locked up just to get your $13k by threatening the lives of others, you may end up spending all of that in court or probably end up in prisons if the bank terms and conditions don't qualify you to have access to that money.

However, this can be avoided in the first place if you don't keep money in the bank, you can switch to bitcoin as an alternative to protect your assets but it comes with its own merit and demerit, volatility has been the reason why it discourages some people to keep their emergency money or savings in bitcoin. Let's say, for example, the woman bought $13k worth of bitcoin when the price was at $40k, that will be a loss to her with half of the value right now and now that the sister is sick and in need of money for treatments, she will have to sell because they can't hold while another life is at stake. Each of its own with its advantages and disadvantages.

[Darker45]

It was only some months ago when a man in the same country was treated as a hero after robbing a bank for his very own money. Lebanon is indeed facing a severe form of economic meltdown. Banks cannot anymore meet the demands of its depositors.

In this case, Bitcoin is indeed the better alternative. It is volatile, yes, but at least it could be accessed anytime.

On another note, things would rather become worse when CBDCs finally replace cash. Freezing on spending would be a lot easier.

[davis196]

Holding money in a bank becomes a joke at this point. You don't get any interest, you have to pay fees to hold funds in a bank account and the bank can block your funds at any time. Inflation eating away your savings adds more salt to the injury. It's way better to hold fiat money under your bed, instead of a bank. Of course, somebody could steal your money, but there will always be risks involved.
Bitcoin/crypto seems like an alternative, but only a minority of tech savvy open-minded people would use BTC/crypto. The majority of the non-tech savvy people would always use the banks, because they don't know any better.

[Lucius]

But again, using the same argument, people still needs to convert bitcoin into their local currency in which they will withdraw thru banks particularly if an establishment does not accept bitcoin and the country does not recognize bitcoin as legal tender.

This is something that we should count on when we talk about the possibility of being our own bank, because our BTC bank mostly depends on that centralized bank when we want to convert Bitcoin to fiat. If a person has Bitcoin and cannot pay anything with it, and cannot sell it for fiat because the bank has blocked his account, then it is a difficult situation, but there is always a way to sell face to face (risky), or buy something online in international trade.

However, I think it is good to remind people that they should be their own bank when it comes to Bitcoin, at least to understand that storing coins on centralized crypto exchanges is nothing but a risk that can be avoided.

[348Judah]

Bitcoin allows you to be your OWN Bank .....and it allows you to have access to your own money, without any intermediary having the power to block it. Just make sure that you have sole access to your Private keys

Just as it had been popularly spoken, not your keys not your coins, infact using a cryptocurrency centralized exchanges could be as worse than using banks sometimes because you can't have a fiat account without having access to your private keys which are the passwords, why should we now think of going centralized in a decentralized arena with bitcoin, this means we undermine the capacity of the bitcoin network under the power of centralized exchanges to have more superior access and use of authority over our coins, it's either you're decentralized or colonized with your funds and the decision lies in your hands on which means to choose in savings your coins.

[sunsilk]

It's been happening in many countries that are tightening the procedure of the withdrawals of their depositors. This can also happen but for those that don't hold their own private keys, their bitcoins.

Those bitcoins that are deposited in the exchanges and even how hard we're campaigning that everyone should hold their keys. There are still people that are leaving their bitcoins in exchanges.

These incidents are eye openers for those people that have a lot of money in the bank, no one's money is safe there anymore.

[NeuroticFish]

These incidents are eye openers for those people that have a lot of money in the bank, no one's money is safe there anymore.

People tend to forget that fiat money is basically IOU papers and they're usually the property of the central bank.

Money in the bank account is just a number. And a bank is a private business, hence they care about their business, not about you. While in EU there are now laws protecting the funds under certain limits, this is rather new, this is only in EU and even there... laws can change. Plus I will not even start with the crap they're doing lately because of crypto, hiding under the "in the name of KYC" blanket.

But as said, Bitcoin is also not perfect, since it's easy to steal and hide. This being said, being your own bank is, sadly, not for everybody.

However, with a bit of carefulness, Bitcoin is clearly superior. And being your own bank certainly gives a nice feeling

[Bitstar_coin]

If the money is available to be rubbed why not give access to it through the right means? You can't put people's life savings under lock and key and expect them to be happy about it, a revolt is bound to happen.
Hopefully, these unpleasant and unsolicited financial hardships will force people to start looking for alternative ways to preserve their money. Nobody wants to be in this type of situation with this high rate of inflation.

[Kakmakr]

It was only some months ago when a man in the same country was treated as a hero after robbing a bank for his very own money. Lebanon is indeed facing a severe form of economic meltdown. Banks cannot anymore meet the demands of its depositors.

In this case, Bitcoin is indeed the better alternative. It is volatile, yes, but at least it could be accessed anytime.

On another note, things would rather become worse when CBDCs finally replace cash. Freezing on spending would be a lot easier.

You kinda have it spot on with your mention of Bitcoin being the alternative option. We have seen several incidents in other countries, like Greece... where the government instructed the Banks to close their doors. In these countries, people could not get access to their own money or the supply of the money were restricted at the ATMs. 

Bitcoin will always be the "alternative" currency, when the shit hits the fan in the Banking industry. It will find it very difficult to be the primary or reserve currency, because the governments are blocking that privilege. 

[barbara44]

Indeed this seems impossible. We thought only robbers can do this but maybe some of the robbers on the past are also a victim of this? This is why they are taking their revenge. Well, that's good for the banks. If only they are fair and do cares a lot with their customers, it should not lead into this tragic event.

It's only sad that some people on the scene are going to be affected when they are innocent. They can be customers of the bank or workers inside it while the one that manages or owns the bank are away from there, relaxing on the comfort of their own home or at the beach doing a vacation. They are the ones who must pay big for this.