Citibank and Venezuela – Perils of Centralized Monetary Systems
Citibank has recently announced its decision to terminate the accounts belonging to the Central Bank of Venezuela, leaving the nation with no means of conducting foreign transactions. Venezuela is staring at a far worse economic crisis in the coming days, as US-based banking major Citibank intends to close a number of accounts belonging to the Central Bank of Venezuela and other government arms. If the bank indeed closes these Venezuelan accounts, the country will be left without any means to conduct foreign transactions. As the fears of economic isolation loom over the country, Citibank....
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It was a jarring reminder of the hidden costs of the easy-to-use, centralized systems that permeate the web, and just how taxing or debilitating they can be.
The recent Citibank issue goes to show how bad things can get when relying on centralized services. Bank accounts are very convenient, as long as customers can access their funds at any given time. Citibank users will have experienced some issues in this regard. Customers in several US states were unable to access their accounts on Friday, due to a “technical issue.” Putting one’s trust in a bank or another financial institution is quite a challenge these days. After all, these are the same companies who caused the financial crisis we are dealing with to date. For most consumers, however,....
As the Canadian Freedom Convoy demonstrated, the censorability of centralized financial platforms proves the need for Bitcoin decentralization.
When the instances of overcharging and the use of “deceptive marketing” techniques to exploit customers are increasing in numbers, the decision by the federal government to order Citibank to pay $700 million to customers is exemplary. The official website of the CFPB says that 8.8 million customers will be compensated in the payout, which includes 7 million people overcharged directly by Citibank and another 1.8 million customers of the bank’s subsidiaries. The action was taken by the CFPB in coordination with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which is separately ordering a....
Citibank, a major global banking institution, revealed on Wednesday that it has hired Switzerland-headquartered crypto custody firm Metaco to establish a digital asset custody platform. The collaboration will focus on tokenized securities, which are representations of stocks and bonds that are transferred and settled using blockchain technology, according to an email from a Citibank official. […]