British bank HSBC has changed its crypto policy prohibiting customers from investing in publically traded companies that hold a significant amount of Bitcoin on their balance sheet. Microstrategy is currently the only blacklisted company. However, who's to say HSBC won't keep expanding this list? After all, while Microstrategy might be one of the most prominent Bitcoin proponents and holders, it is far from being the only company holding Bitcoin on its balance sheet.
As per bitcointreasuries, some 30-ish publically traded companies hold a substantial amount of Bitcoin but as of today, only Microstrategy is blacklisted. This list includes companies like Musk's Tesla and Jack's Square and as of recently, Coinbase.
Soon, the aforementioned companies and many others are most likely going to join Microstrategy on the blacklist.
An HSBC customer went on Twitter to share the letter received from the bank informing him of the crypto policy change and citing Bitcoin and Ethereum as examples.
The new policy prohibits
- Activity related to buying/selling cryptocurrency "such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and other digital currencies."
- Buy, and/or exchange of products "relating to virtual currencies"
- Buy, and/or exchange of products "referencing to the performance of virtual currencies"
In other words, the British bank single-handledly banned all of their customers from participating in the entire crypto ecosystem. They are not only unable to directly buy cryptocurrencies through their bank accounts but now they can't even get indirect exposure to Bitcoin by investing in companies that hodl Bitcoin.
The user who reported the incident tweeted to the CEO of Microstrategy saying that he should check if what HSBC is doing is even legal.
He also rightfully added that this is the opposite of a free market.
https://twitter.com/Camadamus/status/1380030785911025671/photo/1
- Camadamus
While I do think that such actions should be deemed illegal, I'm not a lawyer so I don't know if they are legitimate or not but I sure as hell wouldn't be surprised to find out that there is a certain loophole enabling such exclusive and unfair legislation.
Being such a dinosaur entity, operating from 1865, HSBC's conservative and negative stance towards cryptocurrencies, in general, is nothing unexpected.
It is a tale-tale sign of the era we are living in.
What this means for crypto
We have never been closer to taking down the legacy financial system.
As each day passes by, we are an inch closer to individual monetary sovereignty on a grand scale.
So much so that the banks themselves are pulling desperate moves in order to retain their mere existence.
Gandhi's enlighted words come to mind:
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
We are way past the first two stages and deep into the penultimate part of our collective battle to change for the better the crooked financial system we are forced to participate in today.
Times are changing fast and over the years cryptocurrencies have proven that they can't be "nipped in the bud" as congressman Sherman naively thought.
Banks attempting to diminish the crypto sector as a whole by prohibiting actions regarding cryptocurrencies has successfully brought us to (if we weren't already here) ad absurdum levels of idiocy. Most of you are already aware that any attempt to stifle the growth of cryptocurrencies through legislation is going to be futile as the crypto sphere is like a Hydra.
Cut off one head and two new ones instantly emerge from the fresh wound.
Just as we've lived to tell the tales of losing 90% of our net worth in a year, we are going to march through HSBC banning crypto-related actions of their customers because apart from entertainment value, this news is truly one big nothing-burger.
It will have literally zero effect on Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency for that matter.
People that want to get into crypto, whether it's because of an ideological perspective, or just to make money, will get into crypto no matter if they can do it from the comfort of their bank account or not. Those who are truly interested in dipping their toes into the uncharted waters of crypto, will simply drain their bank account and fill up the Bitcoin ATM.
There is no stopping this unstoppable force, I'm telling you!
Crypto is here to stay and whether HSBC likes it or not, they can do nothing about it!
Their decision could only have unintended consequences detrimental to their longevity as their customers decide to boycott and move their bank accounts to a more forward-thinking bank such as Revolut.
Banks of the future
Will take your schmekels for magic internet money, all day - every day.
Although they currently constitute a minority, a growing list of banks are already offering crypto-related services.
Banks that manage to quickly adapt to these swiftly changing times are the only such institutions that will stand the test of time moving forward into the age where everything is turning digital, even money.
The rest will suffer a long-awaited demise.