This post is about my recent dealings with the traditional financial system in the run-up to #lpud.

A SWIFT Delay

My dissatisfaction with the banking system began in 2017 when I was planning a trip overseas. I'd never heard of the SWIFT payment system and was surprised that my bank couldn't tell me what their own SWIFT number was.

I ended up having to visit two other banks who found their number for me. It took months of effort n dealing with moving funds around to be converted from Dollars to Euros, then back, Euros to Dollars. To say it was a massive headache would be an understatement.

Not to/ mention that I was paying fees at my German bank, German ATM's, as well as transaction fees with my bank back in America that I didn't find out about until I returned home. It was shocking to see that they were double and triple-dipping into my assets on both sides of the pond.

When I returned and learned from my bank about how they'd been dipping into my money, that's when I wondered if crypto could one day be the solution to this financial mess.

The Fly In The Ointment

So, keeping all of that in mind, we enter the now in the run-up to #lpud. I'd just gotten a new card and had to update it with the places I use for online transactions. It seemed as if everything would wrap up in time for me to buy the LEO I needed to qualify. That was not however, to be the case.

So I login the day before and note the expected date of funds arrival and everything looks OK. On the actual date, I see a warning that the funds transfer had been delayed with no reason given. #lpud came and went with no resolution.

At least I had 30 LEO that I could power up and I did so. But this was yet another crack in the much-vaunted foundation that the traditional financial system is built on.

I firmly believe that innovations on the blockchain will allow us to displace this broken system where our funds are held hostage. There's got to be an easier way and I'm convinced that we'll innovate our way around this problem, and free our resources to work for us.