For years now, bitcoiners and cryptocurrency proponents have said the antiquated banking system will not continue to survive for very long and the financial system is showing massive cracks these days. The recent stimulus check fiasco is a prime example of the issue, as customers from PNC, JPMorgan Chase, US Bank, and Capital One have been complaining about technical issues. Moreover, circumstantial evidence shows that a decent number of people who got their stimulus money have spent the funds on cryptocurrencies.
The Antiquated Banking System Struggles With People’s Stimulus Payments
During the last week and a half, Americans have either been talking about getting their $1,200 stimulus checks or complaining about issues with the banking system. There’s been a slew of headlines explaining how a multitude of American mega-banks are floundering trying to process stimulus money. Reports note that banks like Capital One, US Bank, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, PNC, and even Paypal customers have been dealing with problems. Four days ago, news.Bitcoin.com reported on how the podcaster Tim Pool asked his 446,000 Twitter followers if they were having banking issues and many told him they were having issues for 1-2 days.
Reports this week note that the technological backbone of the banking system is struggling immensely. The Washington Post (WP) reports that many financial institutions are relying on software that is decades old. Moreover, a myriad of banking institutions didn’t keep their infrastructure adequately staffed, even though they made record profits in 2019. The WP columnists stressed that if the antiquated banking system continues to have major issues, citizens won’t be “able to pay bills or buy groceries and further exacerbate the economic decline.”
According to the U.S. government, over 80 million stimulus payments were sent out this week. Paypal customers have also been upset with the company, as a number of people have been locked out of the Paypal system for no apparent reason. One person on Reddit explained how during the global lockdown, Paypal decided to lock his account that held a $3,000 balance for 180 days.
“In a time where the majority of the population is struggling with money, these thieves are able to lock funds just like this, potentially leaving people without anything,” noted a Paypal customer on Sunday. “The funds came in my company’s fully verified account from 1 transaction of a single client, with a regular invoice, contract and VAT ID. No fraud or any other illegal bs like they’re trying to say. I’ve been so relieved and happy to have the majority of my savings in bitcoin,” he added.
Exchanges Notice $1,200 Stimulus Checks Are Being Deposited to Purchase Crypto Assets
Further, people have been speculating that some Americans are spending their stimulus checks on cryptocurrencies. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong tweeted on April 16 a chart that showed a spike in $1,200 deposits on the San Francisco-based exchange. The financial columnist Paddy Baker explained that a representative from, Binance US also noted that people have been depositing $1,200 increments. “People do seem to have deposited exactly $1,200 into Binance US in the past couple of days,” the Binance spokesperson said. Statistics from Crypto Compare also show that USD pairings with top digital currencies like BTC and BCH have seen an exponential increase in daily swaps.
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) April 16, 2020
A slew of cryptocurrency proponents continue to wonder what it would be like if a bunch of Americans used their stimulus money for purchasing digital assets. There have been a number of studies done on the “stimulus dollar value ratio” (SDVR), “pre-stimulus dollar value” (PDV), and the “Post-stimulus dollar value (ODV)” effects on the crypto economy. So far the market value of all 5,000 crypto assets in existence has been hovering around $190-210 billion during the last seven days. Even though the covid-19 economy has been rough, digital currencies have managed to fend off most of the economic downturn.
What do you think about the issues with banks processing stimulus checks? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, Various bank logos, Pixabay
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