Monetary overseer: Why people are choosing cryptocurrency over banks

​Banks in one form or another have existed for thousands of years. But progress does not stand still, and even things once considered irreplaceable eventually lose relevance. The same is happening with the banking system, whose functions are gradually being taken over by cryptocurrency.

How banks emerged

The banking system dates back thousands of years, when people began storing surplus grain, livestock, or silver with temples and wealthy merchants. In Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt, priests not only safeguarded deposits but also issued loans with interest. At the time, banking was not a distinct institution — it was intertwined with religion, trade, and politics. Yet the core elements were already there: storage, lending, and debt accounting.

In Ancient Greece and Rome, banking functions were performed by private individuals — trapezites and mensarii — who accepted deposits, exchanged currencies, and issued loans. After the fall of the Roman Empire, banking activity nearly disappeared but was revived in the Middle Ages by moneylenders and merchant houses. Banks flourished particularly in Italian cities like Florence, Venice, and Genoa, where early promissory notes and cashless transactions first appeared.

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The bank founded by Giovanni di Bicci de’ Medici in early 15th-century Florence is considered one of the first institutions to closely resemble a modern financial organization. The Banco dei Medici not only introduced a structured network of branches and accounting systems, but also became a prototype of a multi-level international banking network focused on profit and influence.

Historians credit Medici with the saying: “Money should work quietly, like good governance — invisible but effective.”

Over time, banks became tools of state policy. Governments used them to finance wars, foreign trade, and infrastructure. Central banks emerged to print money, control inflation, and set interest rates.

Today, banks are positioned as intermediaries between money and society, but their structure remains deeply hierarchical and profit-oriented. Modern banking products are aggressively marketed regardless of actual need, and access to them is tightly regulated.

Banking crises

The modern banking system has grown to such proportions that it gave rise to institutions deemed “too big to fail.” This means that the collapse of such banks could trigger a chain reaction across the economy and spark a global crisis. Rather than let the market correct itself, governments and central banks bail out these entities using taxpayer money — all in the name of avoiding panic.

But despite efforts to maintain control, history offers numerous examples of large bank failures. In 2008, Washington Mutual, then the largest savings bank in the U.S., collapsed due to the subprime mortgage bubble — marking the largest bank failure in American history.

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Years later, in 2023, a new wave hit: Silicon Valley Bank — a key player in the tech and startup space — abruptly lost liquidity. Signature Bank and First Republic Bank followed shortly after. These incidents demonstrated that even well-established banks are not immune to failure.

Why banks are obsolete

Banks aren’t just dangerous because of their instability. Today, they increasingly resemble a relic of the past. Every transfer and transaction involves fees — often excessive and unjustified. Sending money from one account to another, especially across borders, still takes hours or even days. People are forced to pay banks for access to their own funds, dealing with constraints created not by technology, but by outdated institutional rules.

Banks have become a bloated bureaucratic layer between people and their money. Even basic tasks — opening an account, getting approval for a transfer, or issuing a card — require time, permissions, and intermediaries. Lending decisions aren’t just based on creditworthiness but on obscure algorithms no one sees. The bank has become less a helper and more a financial warden.

Cryptocurrency instead of banks

People are increasingly abandoning traditional banks in favor of cryptocurrencies — and it’s not just a trend, but a conscious choice. Digital assets offer what banks can’t: instant cross-border transfers, minimal fees, no intermediaries, 24/7 accessibility, and full control over one's assets.

Sending money from Europe to Asia no longer takes days or costs a fortune in service fees. The process is direct, fast, and transparent — all you need is a crypto wallet and an internet connection.

Cryptocurrency also ensures a high degree of anonymity, censorship resistance, and immunity from seizure by governments or third parties. No one can “freeze your account” or impose usage rules — control lies entirely with the user. And this is now understood not only by banks but even by world leaders.

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Moreover, crypto isn’t just a payment system — it’s a tool for earning. There are many ways to generate income:

- Trading (actively speculating on price movements)

- Staking (earning rewards for helping validate transactions)

- Farming (earning from providing liquidity to decentralized exchanges)

- Mining (independently generating new cryptocurrency)

- Arbitrage (profiting from price differences across markets) — and more.

Together, these features make the crypto ecosystem not just an alternative to banking — but a full-fledged economic system of its own.

Toward financial freedom

The banking system, once a symbol of stability and trust, is now associated with fees, restrictions, bureaucracy, and systemic risk. People are tired of intermediaries, of asking permission to access their own money, and of being at the mercy of institutions that serve their own interests.

Cryptocurrency offers not just an alternative, but a new paradigm — one rooted in transparency, autonomy, and individual responsibility. It’s not a path for everyone, but for those willing to learn and take control, it’s a chance to stop being a client — and become the master of their own capital.