Cryptocurrency: A Welcome Threat to Banking

As if using Coinbase isn’t painful enough, I found myself at odds with my bank today. This morning I noticed most of the cryptos were rallying so I decided to buy some more Litecoin (LTC). 

In my experience LTC has been one of the best altcoins, both in terms of investment potential and practical usability.  I have used it for most of my altcoin purchases and even purchased some equipment online. Most recently I used it to get some @smartcash in order to take advantage of their SmartRewards program.  

Unfortunately I needed to update my debit card in my Coinbase account. This is what I got:

While I was double-checking the card number and info, the automated fraud system called and I authorized the transaction. I waited several minutes and tried again, but to no avail. So I called customer service and kindly asked them to allow this transaction, which is a $1.00 pre-authorization - standard procedure to verify a card.

The nice lady proceeded to tell me that it wasn't possible because the transaction was coming from the UK. She claimed that any transaction from outside the US is automatically blocked per their policy! After some pressing she agreed to give me a 24 hour window where I could make a transaction, but only to the UK. There is no way for me to permanently allow foreign transactions, even from certain countries. Has anyone else had an experience like this with their bank?

This is concerning to me not only for future crypto purchases, but because I have various other legitimate business with companies outside the US. For me, this is just one more of many reasons we need cryptos. I am excited for the day when traditional banks are as antiquated as myspace. 

Ironically, while I was dealing with this I noticed an actual fraudulent charge on my account from a domestic retailer - which was not detected by their "prevention" policy.