People who let their instincts tell them to stay away from the crypto business way back when it started...just after the big bubble burst - knew the fact it was so obscure meant simply that it was a set up to allow fraud & theft financial deals to be hidden, and any fancy explanations made no sense whatsoever apart from that one. I also assumed that just like any other fancy illegal business it would have a few years of glory & then collapse on itself spectacularly - and here we are !!! Those who think they are running a legal crypto business are just kidding themselves - the whole point of it's invention was to stay out of the view of financial inspectors - for what reason could that possibly be ?
Would love to hear your thoughts on how Coinbase and also Galaxy Digital fit with your view. Both companies are pursuing "regulator-approved"-type strategies, if there is such a thing.
This is interesting but ultimately only part of the picture.
The crypto-enabling banks are really only important for the "crypto only" people - those who are living in crypto world but still have to get fiat to eat or pay rent.
The majority of crypto "value" in the US (and likely the West overall) is not there - it is in the HNW (high net worth individual) investing world. I greatly doubt that any HNW using Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, etc as CUSIP holders of their crypto, has any problems whatsoever in converting bitcoin to cash or vice versa.
In this context, the moves you outline above could as easily be the big banks clawing back against crypto-exchange competitors as it is any form of crypto shutdown.
Equally, the existing crypto-banks were all tertiary institutions - many of which are operating on the very hair's edge of legality (or over it). In this context, what is happening is simply enforcement of existing rules to bring back federally insured entities into the area for which they are licensed to operate (or not).
And then there's the natsec/AML angle: there are numerous articles talking about "Russian hackers" and "North Koreans" converting ransomware and other cyber attack fruits into cash. These types of operations also conveniently overlap with "crypto life" lifestyles. Thus the attacks on said payment processors could simply be an outcome of financial regulatory action, in response to natsec/law enforcement, to attack the kill chain of cryptocrime money laundering.
I'd bet it is some of all of the above - and none of it is about truly killing off cryptocurrency.
Only if CUSIP holders like said big banks exit the cryptocurrency business is it likely that the West will truly act to terminate cryptocurrency.
Even in the realm of CDBCs - the West's elites firmly believe that the deregulated nature of the Western financial system is a pillar of its strength; support for cryptocurrency - at least with reliable HNW types as opposed to the masses/anarchists/criminals - is part and parcel of Western financial industry independence.
The scams and corruption in crypto are only dwarfed by the scams and corruption in "real" finance, stock markets and governance. "Official" currencies are unlimited scamcoins issued by non-elected compromised incompetents pushed around by elected incompetents and worse. Let's be honest about that. Pigs are pigs. Only gold is money.
I love your work
People who let their instincts tell them to stay away from the crypto business way back when it started...just after the big bubble burst - knew the fact it was so obscure meant simply that it was a set up to allow fraud & theft financial deals to be hidden, and any fancy explanations made no sense whatsoever apart from that one. I also assumed that just like any other fancy illegal business it would have a few years of glory & then collapse on itself spectacularly - and here we are !!! Those who think they are running a legal crypto business are just kidding themselves - the whole point of it's invention was to stay out of the view of financial inspectors - for what reason could that possibly be ?
Crypto crowd are gonna lose everything.
Would love to hear your thoughts on how Coinbase and also Galaxy Digital fit with your view. Both companies are pursuing "regulator-approved"-type strategies, if there is such a thing.
This is interesting but ultimately only part of the picture.
The crypto-enabling banks are really only important for the "crypto only" people - those who are living in crypto world but still have to get fiat to eat or pay rent.
The majority of crypto "value" in the US (and likely the West overall) is not there - it is in the HNW (high net worth individual) investing world. I greatly doubt that any HNW using Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, etc as CUSIP holders of their crypto, has any problems whatsoever in converting bitcoin to cash or vice versa.
In this context, the moves you outline above could as easily be the big banks clawing back against crypto-exchange competitors as it is any form of crypto shutdown.
Equally, the existing crypto-banks were all tertiary institutions - many of which are operating on the very hair's edge of legality (or over it). In this context, what is happening is simply enforcement of existing rules to bring back federally insured entities into the area for which they are licensed to operate (or not).
And then there's the natsec/AML angle: there are numerous articles talking about "Russian hackers" and "North Koreans" converting ransomware and other cyber attack fruits into cash. These types of operations also conveniently overlap with "crypto life" lifestyles. Thus the attacks on said payment processors could simply be an outcome of financial regulatory action, in response to natsec/law enforcement, to attack the kill chain of cryptocrime money laundering.
I'd bet it is some of all of the above - and none of it is about truly killing off cryptocurrency.
Only if CUSIP holders like said big banks exit the cryptocurrency business is it likely that the West will truly act to terminate cryptocurrency.
Even in the realm of CDBCs - the West's elites firmly believe that the deregulated nature of the Western financial system is a pillar of its strength; support for cryptocurrency - at least with reliable HNW types as opposed to the masses/anarchists/criminals - is part and parcel of Western financial industry independence.
The scams and corruption in crypto are only dwarfed by the scams and corruption in "real" finance, stock markets and governance. "Official" currencies are unlimited scamcoins issued by non-elected compromised incompetents pushed around by elected incompetents and worse. Let's be honest about that. Pigs are pigs. Only gold is money.