Beyond Bitcoin - The war on cash is real

Let us take part in raising awareness to something we are being conditioned right now to eventually accept without putting up a fight. The topic is, of course governments across the world trying to ban cash. The short version is, you will end up having much less control over your own money.

And this is where things get interesting for users of cryptocurrency. While most of us may already be familiar with the benefits of Bitcoins over regular currency and cash, let us put things into perspective. Governments and banks are currently regulating and tracing money, and while that in itself should be no real cause for concern, it does become one the very moment that affects civil liberties and free movement of finances. The immediate and main target of governments and banks is not the average Joe, but criminals who move trillions of dollars - in cash form - every year. That war however is largely impossible without the assumed criminalisation of every citizen of a country. And this is where Bitcoin comes in as a viable and democratic alternative, allowing the average Joe and organisations alike to avail of financial freedom, total control over one’s finances, without having to worry about financial crash resulted bail-ins, such as the recent one in Cyprus.

Cyprus has seen first-hand the disadvantages of a world where cash-flow is regulated by the banks and the government. Any uninsured deposit and savings account over €100.000 would be wiped off as the result of a bail-in which traditionally has been avoided but seems to now become a more and more popular financial crisis aversion “solution”. This could also result in something similar to what happened in Greece not so long ago, allowing people to take out only certain amounts of cash on a daily basis or the very recent Indian surprise cash ban. Citizens all over India woke up in November to find that most of their cash was suddenly illegal and were urged to find banks where to deposit them, all this in a country where 50% of the population relies solely on cash and has no bank account. The official reason given by the government was to fight criminals who stockpile cash, but one must ask how far governments will go in this war and whether the general honest population is seen as merely a collateral but necessary damage.

If you thought however that India or Cyprus may be an isolated case, or part of the growing pains of developing countries, think again, as the EU has proposed an official roadmap for banning all cash and expressing its wish to control cryptocurrencies: “An option could be to extend the restrictions to cash payments to all payments ensuring anonymity (cryptocurrencies, payment in kinds, etc.). On the other hand, restrictions on cash payments could promote the development of alternative payments technologies compatible with the non-anonymity objective pursued.”
Indeed, the reality is that banks and governments don’t like what they can’t tax. But just like in the previous cases, the cash ban affects the average Joe and businesses just as much if not more. To top it off, in UK where the deposit guarantee was arbitrarily, suddenly and with little fanfare quietly reduced from £100,000 to £75,000 in July 2015.

The bottom line is real and the global tendency is clear. While cash and good ole banks used to be seen as a bullet-proof solution to one’s financial security, these days, that’s more of a dangerous and risky bubble ready to burst at any moment. Be that for personal or business reasons, bitcoin seems to have become a much more viable option for financial security, democratic freedom, offering a system with no central entity, no political implications, a much cheaper alternative to transfers such as Moneygram and Western Union, and an all-round better currency in a world where the destabilisation of a single country has a ripple effect across the globe.

Image found on goldsurvivalguide.co.nz.