When regulation eliminates choice

So guys, imagine working really hard to earn your coins, depositing your income into a mainstream bank account because you're told that it's the best place to store your wealth for safekeeping and, besides, it's the easiest way for your employer to transfer funds to you in a bank that's, well, respected, and regulated, right?

So imagine having that money in the bank and then seeing something that you really like, that you really wanna get and it's on sale... and, I mean, you're an adult, you earned your money fair and square, and you think that you can afford this thing that's up for sale.

Imagine swiping your card to purchase this thing, knowing that you have the funds to pay for it and then getting rapped on your knuckles and being told by the banks that, no, you can't purchase that thing, we won't let you.

We'd keep your money and charge you fees to hold it so that we can then turn around and trade with your money, lend out your money,  invest your money and make handsome profits on it. But we're not gonna allow you to use the money you earned fair and square to buy this thing that you like that you have the funds to cover because we want to protect you.

Sounds laughable, right? Well, welcome to the real world. And let's have a discussion about banking regulations and cryptocurrency.

Depending on where you are in the world, it's really hard to access cryptocurrency. And it may not always be illegal outright like, say, China, but in some places it's just not easy to acquire either. So kudos to El Salvador for leading the way at least in recognizing Bitcoin as legal tender. But what about the rest of the world?

Accessing crypto in the US

In the US, it's relatively easy to purchase cryptocurrency and to trade and invest it. You don't need a paywall, and you're not necessarily exposed to the huge risks that one might face in peer to peer trading. In the US, there are tons of options:

• There's Coinbase. You can just create a COINBASE account and, in some cases, you might even be able to have all or a portion of your salary deposited directly into Coinbase as a stable coin or a crypto of your choosing, right? 
• There are other central exchanges like Kraken, Gemini, and BINANCE US. You can access BlockFi and Crypto.com
• You can open accounts with Celsius and Nexo and earn really attractive returns just for leaving your crypto idle on their platforms.
• You can travel with crypto, and people have purchased real estate- not just in the metaverse- with their crypto coins, and it's fine. In fact...
• You have
• You have incentives, not just to buy and trade, but even to create blockchain projects to change the world.
• The banks are even embracing cryptocurrency in the US

There are tons of benefits that a citizen of the United States enjoys as far as it comes to acquiring and using cryptocurrency that others in some parts of the world do not enjoy.

Regulations

Today, in the US, you'd have to deal with the IRS who sees cryptocurrencies as a virtual assets so that taxes are levied on any gains realized from selling them. And yeah, I know,  that's not perfect. And I know that there's also the threat of further regulation which could hinder the industry, and this threat has many of us in other parts of the world also on the edges of our seat, biting our nails and looking on for fear of the impact it could have on markets, but, this is not to say that in the US, it's such a huge deterrent that the crypto industry is not thriving there. Y'all, it's way better than in many other places. 

Accessing crypto in Canada

In Canada, cryptocurrencies are not legal tender, but they are also not illegal. So, like the US, it's relatively easy to purchase, trade, and invest if you wanted to. 

• There are regulated central exchanges like WealthsimpleCoinsmart.
• You can open accounts with Celsius and Nexo and earn really attractive returns just for leaving your crypto idle on their platforms.
• You can travel with crypto, and people have purchased real estate- not just in the metaverse- with their crypto coins,.
• You have

Regulations

Cryptocurrency is viewed as a commodity in Canada and, as such, is taxed. Your investments are tracked by the Canada Revenue Agency which works with crypto exchanges for your information and to ensure that you pay your fair share of crypto tax. 

Accessing crypto in the UK and Europe

Welcome to the cryptocurrency capital of the world. According to , the European continent was the world's biggest cryptocurrency economy in 2021, trading over 870 billion euro in crypto in that year alone, and with countries in north and western Europe accounting for 25% of all global cryptocurrency activity. Lead among these countries were the UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain. So, as you may guess, access is not an issue.

• There are regulated central exchanges.
• You can open accounts with Celsius and Nexo
• You can travel with crypto and purchase real estate
• You have Bitcoin machines.

Regulations

Taxation varies across countries, but in general, it isn't so rigid as to present a deterrent. In fact, Germany and Portugal are among the leading countries with relaxed regulations for cryptocurrency transactions.

And then there's the rest of the world...

China's not the only country to ban crypto or to stifle its access. There's a long list including, but not limited to Egypt, Iraq, Qatar, Oman, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Bangladesh.  According to reports, there are at least 42 countries which have placed direct or implicit bans on digital currencies, prohibiting cryptocurrency exchanges and blocking banks from dealing with crypto. And the governments of these countries argue that cryptocurrencies are used to funnel money to illegal sources and could destabilize their financial systems. 

And I'm just gonna insert a really nice quote here from Murray N Rothbard's Man, Economy, and State with Power and Market

"…the proponents of government intervention are trapped in a fatal contradiction: they assume that individuals are not competent to run their own affairs or to hire experts to advise them. And yet they also assume that these same individuals are equipped to vote for these same experts at the ballot box."

Recently I wrote  an article celebrating India's step towards regulation earlier this year because my perspective at the point in time was, hey guys, yay! You have unfiltered access! Yes, the tax is high, but hey, you can get crypto, right? You're not impeded at every turn. You can use your credit cards, log on to an exchange, navigate without the exhorbitant peer to peer fees you might have to pay if your bank isn't gonna allow you to use your credit card, and you can purchase crypto, right? So, to use my opening analogy, you can use your money that you earned to buy that thing you liked that you could afford if you wanted to, and no one was gonna tell you, no, you can't have it. So that's a  first step in the right direction. And there's hope for those of us in other parts of the world who are genuinely interested in cryptocurrency investing and who would like to do more, reasonably and legitimately, but their hands are tied because of ridiculous barriers to entry.

The Caribbean

In most countries in the Caribbean, it's not illegal to own cryptocurrency, but it's often not easy to acquire either. So you literally have to scramble for to pull together a nest egg or you have to pay  at least half of your money in fees using peer to peer platforms just to get a foot in. 

For example, I recently had an account with Coinbase. Yeah, I know, KUCOIN is better. I just liked the fact that Coinbase afforded me the opportunity to see the value of my holdings in my country's currency so that I didn't have to constantly convert to see what my holdings were worth. Dumb, I know, but it's just a default I have. 

Anyways, sometimes I would see a coin I liked and I would probably want to purchase that coin or trade what I have for that coin on Coinbase because it would be convenient and less hassle to do so if my funds are already there, right? And I'd see, in my currency, exactly how much that transaction is costing me. Thing is, I can't do that with Coinbase. Coinbase let's me hold cryptocurrency, I can send, I can receive, it's not illegal for me to do that, but I can't purchase and I can't trade. Now isn't that unfair. It's money, right?

So  then, there was the dip. Markets were down in January and I was like- glass half full, hey, opportunityForget Coinbase, I'll try with someone else. So I grabbed my credit card, logged on to an exchange, Binance this time, entered my information, and guess what? Yeah, my bank said, no, we're not gonna do that. We're not gonna let you be great. We're gonna protect you. And I don't know guys, I don't feel protected. I feel caged. And I don't like that feeling. I want financial independence, not to run a scam, not to launder, not to hide wealth from the authorities. Hey, I'm willing to pay taxes on it. But I don't like the fact that choice can so easily be taken from me.

Anyways, guys, those are my thoughts on that. I'd love to know what you think. How do you feel about the banking industry, regulation, and cryptocurrency. Do you think the banks are genuinely protecting you or their own self interests? And what do you think the future holds? Do you think the banks will succeed in this tug of war with crypto and blockchain, or do you think they'll succeed in stifling it? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

That's it for me for now, guys. I'm off with my metal detector scrounging for bit-coins on a beach somewhere. Who knows? Maybe I'd hit jackpot soon. In the meantime,  however, please remember that there's a pandemic outside, so be safe. And until we chat again, arrivederci!