A shorty story: Banking on Crypto

This is my fist writing since El Salvador entered the hyperbitcoinisation phase by adopting the bitcoin standard as legal tender. If I were to say things move really fast in crypto, it would still be an understatement. The adoption of bitcoin at a national level is remarkable given that bitcoin market only constitutes a tiny drop in global assets. A decade after its creation, academics, enthusiasts, economists and bankers are still at odds as to how to class bitcoin with some arguing that it is a commodity whilst others think it has characteristics of choses in action. The arrival of El Salvador, throws a cat amongst the pigeons by making it a national currency. The world is still none the wiser than it was yesterday.The year 2020 remains a truly memorable year on the crypto timeline for several reasons, but 2021 really marks a different phase of adoption — a departure from adoption on the retail and institutional level to whole countries. This comes as a huge surprise as it represents the antithesis of what crypto was meant to be. The philosophy on which bitcoin was built was that of anti-establishment and disintermediation. The genesis block, which was the first to be generated for bitcoin, had an important notation from the Times Newspaper published in the UK, which read “Chancellor on Brink of Second Bailout for Banks.” This was the first message which Satoshi distributed on the ledger to the world-a clear show of contempt or disdain towards the establishment. We would soon find out that the relationship between governments and bitcoin would never be a romantic one. It would evolve into one characterized by fear-mongering, restrictions, and bans. Bitcoin was born out of a desire to give the people a chance to opt-out in case there would be a…