So with the news from Canada that the Trudeau government will accelerate freezing the personal and business accounts of truckers protesting mandates (https://fee.org/articles/did-justin-trudeau-s-financial-crackdown-really-spark-a-bank-run-in-canada/), it occurred to me that some people may need to think about something. This could absolutely happen here in the U.S. This isn’t a “oh, it’s happening in another country, it could never happen here” thing.
So, the problem with the way most people think about banks is wrong…or at least, incomplete. This is an over-simplification, but when you deposit your money in a bank, you have now lost custody of that money. Those numbers you see on your mobile banking app is how much money the bank is holding in your name. But you do not have physical custody of ANY of that money. The government (or indeed the bank itself) can freeze or remove that money at any time, and there’s nothing you can do to stop it. Yes, you might be able to get that money returned, but it’ll be a court battle to get it back. A possibly expensive court battle you have to wage with your money seized and inaccessible. A quick web search will return stories of accounts frozen and seized with little or no evidence of any wrongdoing, which takes weeks, months, or even years of expensive lawyers to resolve.
Now, I’m not saying this to scare people. But I do want people to acknowledge that giving your money for some other entity to hold on your behalf removes it from your immediate control. I’m not saying go and pull your money out of the bank. That would be counter-productive, and very inconvenient. Maybe a layered approach? Have some cash on hand, crypto holdings, and such? I don’t know, I’m not a financial professional, and this is not financial advice.
That’s one reason the government via the SEC, Fed, etc. are trying so hard to eliminate most cryptocurrencies, especially privacy-centered cryptocurrencies. They can’t be controlled, deleted, or frozen, and in the case of privacy coins, it’s very difficult to even track or trace. With some of the crazy things going on nowadays, it would be wise to be cautious.
