Quote from: slapper on May 20, 2025, 09:40:44 AM

Banks have always adapted. They survived credit cards, ATMs, the dot-com boom, and even the rise of mobile wallets by absorbing, co-opting, and sometimes just buying out whatever threatened them. It’s less about extinction and more about mutation.

But there’s something people ignore: banks are way more than money warehouses. They’re relationship engines, trust brokers, infrastructure layers for the boring stuff (mortgages, compliance, interbank settlements). Crypto doesn’t want that job. Most people don’t even want that job; it’s too much friction for the average user, and most don’t want to become their own bank and risk a wrong click wiping out a life’s savings.

I agree with you that crypto mostly lived as a speculative, but if banks don’t adapt, they don’t die. They just turn into utilities, like telecoms, doing the invisible labor while new platforms grab the spotlight. We should all be wonder: "Who gets to set the rules for what counts as money and what counts as trust?” That’s always been the real game, and it’s never just about technology. It’s about narrative control and who we choose to believe. And most people will pick convenience over revolution every single time.

That's certainly true, mate. And if crypto centralization continues to increase, banks may end up "absorbing" it. Some banks made a partnership with Ripple, Inc. (XRP's parent company), so anything's possible.

I don't see banks getting ousted or becoming obsolete anytime soon. Governments need them to keep the Fiat monetary system rolling. No retail banks and no central banks = complete separation of money from the state. That won't happen now or in the near future. Truly-decentralized coins such as Bitcoin and Litecoin will remain "second-class" choices for those who value privacy and freedom. Meanwhile, Fiat (which will eventually go digital) will continue to take over the world by storm. With CBDCs right around the corner, banks will only get bigger and stronger than ever. It's too late to "fix the world". At least, we have Bitcoin. That's all we'll ever need.