Bitcoin and the banking system: slammed doors and legacy flaws

It's no secret that the banking system doesn't like bitcoin, but does that stance challenge businesses who favor Bitcoin? Cointelegraph investigates.

Despite Bitcoin (BTC)'s promise of a peer-to-peer world, building a first Bitcoin business in 2022 still requires third-party intermediaries. Whether it's seed capital, using fiat currency, or simply operating fiat payment rails, bitcoin activity means interaction with the legacy financial system.

For the vast majority of Bitcoin-based businesses, this means they probably need a bank.

Cointelegraph spoke to Bitcoin-only companies about their experiences working with banks, given that ultimately Bitcoin gets a lot of bad press in the mainstream media. Additionally, some of the banking industry's biggest proponents love minting Bitcoin. Ben Price, founder of the Bitcoin Company, recently said that the company has lost "dozens upon dozens of banking partnership opportunities just because we are a Bitcoin company".

We've lost dozens of banking partnership opportunities just because we're a bitcoin business.

We lost even more for simply following the law and fighting to minimize required user data and renormalize financial privacy.

Most companies just sell users for convenience.

Price was a product manager at Visa for years before founding the Bitcoin company. He told Cointelegraph that “the goal of the Bitcoin Society is to bring Bitcoin to the world” as it is “a true catalyst for the betterment of our civilization.”

Price became frustrated while working at Visa – not because he was a “hardcore Bitcoin maxi”, but because of the slow progress. According to him, projects related to payments, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), non-custodial wallets and m...