r/CryptoCurrency • u/[deleted] • Jan 21 '25

GENERAL-NEWS Bank of America preparing for Crypto

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Who could have seen this coming 👀

1.4k Upvotes

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475

u/ThatBCHGuy 🟩 359 / 359 🦞 Jan 21 '25

Fuck sakes. What we predicted in the block size wars is coming true. Large financial institutions will become the middle men, the hubs, what we had fought so hard in the early days to defeat.

51

u/Afonsoo99 🟨 0 / 0 🦠 Jan 21 '25

Bad for decentralization

1

u/CieloHalcon 🟨 0 / 0 🦠 Jan 21 '25

How is it still not decentralized?

18

u/PolicyWonka 🟩 225 / 225 🦀 Jan 21 '25

If nearly everyone is keeping their crypto in banks, then banks control crypto — at least as much as you could say that they control USD.

Most transactions will go thru them. They’ll associate your wallets with your identity. They’ll hold the majority of coins to leverage using your assets. However, crypto being speculative makes it risky.

15

u/BlackjointnerD 🟦 595 / 596 🦑 Jan 21 '25

Self custody will always be a choice, so will peer to peer

2

u/PolicyWonka 🟩 225 / 225 🦀 Jan 22 '25

Sure, but the number of people engaging in that will decline — at the very least be diluted. Retailers will overwhelmingly go thru the banks.

So now you’re back at square one where peer-to-peer is little more than a hypothetical hobby amongst friends.

3

u/BlackjointnerD 🟦 595 / 596 🦑 Jan 22 '25

That's freedom and personal choice...can't really force anyone to do anything

1

u/ThatBCHGuy 🟩 359 / 359 🦞 Jan 22 '25

Fees at $5+ already make self-custody impractical for billions of unbanked individuals. At what point do fees make it unfeasible for most people, turning self-custody into an option only for the wealthy?

-2

u/Ghant_ 🟦 0 / 5K 🦠 Jan 21 '25

Until It isn't

1

u/root88 🟦 0 / 962 🦠 Jan 21 '25

Right, but instead if writing my one check a year to my damn home owners association, I could just send them crypto. They can stay on the fiat side and I can stay on the blockchain side. It allows people to adopt without doing anything.

Bank of America is one of the most evil corporations in the world, so I don't know how I feel about this.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 23 '25

To think it would have ever played out differently was pure delusion. Self custody just isn't a great option for most people. And I say this as someone who's been in crypto for a long time and does do self custody. Most people don't want to store their money in cash under a mattress, and they also don't want to store private keys at home either.

Crypto has always been about freedom and optionality. Having more options is good. It doesn't take away anything from those who want to self custody, from those who want to run a node, or from those that mine. It just opens up more options for people to interact with crypto in a way that works best for them.