EDIT: in Australia at least, some banks have confirmed support today for bitcoin transfers. A distinction should also be made between buying crypto on credit and buying with debit (eg. bank transfers). Buying on credit is a huge risk based on the way the credit networks work (chargebacks are possible, for example) and it is completely understandable why banks would not want that. That doesn't stop the media misrepresenting it as a complete ban, though.
http://bitcoinist.com/australia-banks-wont-ban-buying-bitcoin/
Many people seem to be expressing concern with the viability of Bitcoin if it is unable to be purchased, after the following events:
JP Morgan Chase stopped accepting credit card payments for purchasing Bitcoin
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/02/jpmorgan-chase-bank-of-america-bar-bitcoin-buys-with-a-credit-card.htmlAustralian banks forcibly reversed POLi transfers to Bitcoin exchanges
https://twitter.com/BTCMarkets/status/946301431644004352
- BTCMarketsAustralian banks liquidity brought into question due to Bitcoin blocks
http://www.news.com.au/finance/money/investing/coinspot-rubbishes-liquidity-claims-says-it-is-getting-closer-to-turning-on-australian-dollar-deposits/news-story/ac5de7b98696121adace52b3157b8ca7Wavecrest cancels all Bitcoin-VISA credit card accounts
https://www.newsbtc.com/2018/01/06/visa-suspends-bitcoin-debit-cards-issued-wavecrest/
These stories are increasing, and generate obvious price declines, exacerbating the current declining trend in the crypto markets. Clearly, these events are alarming, and further illustrate the fact that if your money is in a bank, you do not own it.
These businesses are legitimate, are not doing anything illegal, and the banks have chosen to step between you and your money... surely this is grounds for a class action lawsuit? Terms and conditions are one thing, but what happened to the rights of the consumer?
More importantly, will it be enough to stifle Bitcoin in the long term?
I think it's important to remember that banks are not governments, they are businesses. They don't have the power to regulate, and Bitcoin as a currency is perfectly legal in all but a few countries, and increasingly openly embraced in many more (such as Japan, Thailand and Singapore). Banks might be tightly wound with government, but they are not the government and cannot directly manipulate the laws around your wealth and the right to spend it.
The point of capitalism and having a free market is that as long as it is legal (and sometimes if not), new demands create new opportunities. We are witnessing something amazing - old gods burning and seeing a new system birth. It's natural the banking system won't cooperate - they'll fight it, and newcomers will throw them onto the fire, regardless of their wealth. It's happened a great many times before with other industries, it will happen with this one.
In many ways, it's a sign that crypto is winning, even given all the FUD and price flash crashes lately.
There's nothing stopping crypto-specific banks opening up that compete directly with the current cartel. Given peoples willingness to send money to exchanges, I don't see why they wouldn't also have their pay directly deposited into a virtual crypto bank instead of one that hates them. They could even have any deposits directly converted to crypto and sent to their wallet.
In the short term, nothing is stopping you or anyone else from purchasing Bitcoin by withdrawing and buying with cash - an exciting business opportunity will open up - Bitcoin kiosks and ATMs Singapore tried this to a raging success allowing you to buy directly with cash. This could prove easier than current systems -trying to show my mother how to transfer money from her bank to a purchaser/exchange, and get verified before doing so, then buy Bitcoin with the fiat she deposited, was like pulling teeth.
The big banks may blacklist a few exchanges, but what about a few thousand small businesses that open up? They can't prevent them joining the EFT networks with smaller banks who would be happy to serve them.
Corner shops can take cash for crypto. Why not?
If there's a demand for it, and it is technically/economically feasible, shops will start to accept it - because they, like most people, are sick of the arm-twisting and penny pinching that credit companies enforce on small business. This compounds the importance of reducing transaction fees and adopting currencies like Nano which are fee-free and capable of thousands of transactions per second.
Let me phrase it another way - if credit card companies decided they didn't like people buying alcohol with credit cards, but people still wanted it, and it was perfectly legal, what would happen next? Would it really affect the sales of alcohol at all, long term? This situation is bigger than that, because this supplants banks.
Another possibility is that larger players like Apple and Samsung, who recently integrated country-specific payment systems like Suica/Pasmo into their phones, will see a big opportunity in crypto - their battles with credit card companies to get Apple Pay / Samsung Pay adopted is notorious - and banks uptake has been less than stellar. I'm sure they have no love for banks. Something open and almost free would surely be an attractive option for them.
Remember that most of the world is unbanked - so they don't even have this problem in the first place. Cryptos are popping up to serve them - why would cryptocurrencies not pop up to serve the demographic of people who choose to be unbanked?
There are many possibilities, and thanks to the greediness of the banking cartels, new ones will open up, and this is not the end of crypto by any means. It will cause short term panic, but the banks are not the law, as much as they wish they were.
Hold tight, we are in for a war, and it's just beginning.