I love to have total control over my savings and this forms the foundation of my preference when comparing saving my money in a centralized bank or in a decentralized platform. Though both of them have their individual merits and demerits, I compare and contrast and I prefer decentralized savings such as crypto wallet.
Earlier this year, there was an attempt by the Nigerian government to redesign its Naira notes. A deadline of January 31st was given after which the old notes would cease to be legal tender. At the expiration of the deadline, the volume of redesigned notes in circulation was inadequate. This subjected people to suffering. The government advised bank customers to adopt online banking. The main target was to encourage a cashless economy.
At the peak of the implementation of the policy, the economy nearly broke down. I practically purchased Naira with Naira. I once paid 200 Naira charges for every 1000 Naira that I withdrew.
During the same period, I had multiple failed transactions when trying to make purchases with online banking or USSD codes. The banks were not compassionate.
In March, I was debited a certain amount of money while paying for a commodity through point of sales. The money wasn't credited to the account of the seller.
I went to the bank the following day to lodge a complaint. I was made to fill a form before being told by the bank official to wait for 14 working days for the reversal. That was about three weeks. They care less about the urgency of my needs which I wanted to attend to with the money.
I waited for 14 working days and more without any result. I went back to the bank to remind them of the issue and also to lodge a fresh complaint of another failed but debited transaction.
For another three months, I could not get my money back. I had to follow a trend on Twitter to demand for my money. Any random post I come across from a verified account with large followers, I mention the name of the bank and briefly explain my grievance. They hate public ridicule. They ridicule and torture you in private but detest being the recipient in public.
They quickly reached out to me on my DM and within 24 hours, my money was reversed. Though the second one, which is not a huge amount, hasn't been reversed, I have left it for them and moved on.
This experience makes the centralized system undesirable to me. Having money in my account and facing difficulties in withdrawing it is not a good idea. I should be able to have control over my savings.
A government policy can ruin someone's finances within a twinkle of an eye. The exorbitant random charges on one's account can't be overlooked. In some instances, I would check my account balance and realize that a debit had been effected without notifying me to know the purpose of doing such.
When I sum all these up, I lose interest in saving in centralized systems such as in banks.
On the other hand, a decentralized system like a crypto wallet gives me total control over my savings. My transactions don't have to go through a third party before going to the intended destination. The fear of some breaches into my savings by an agent of a centralized controller is not there. I have read of cases where bank staff wipe off the funds in customers' accounts and run away from his place of work. I don't have to be afraid of such a scenario in a decentralized system.
The unexplained charges on my account are also not there. My reservation about crypto is the fluctuation in the value of assets.
To control this to a large extent, I save in relatively stable coins like HBD. Unlike the local currency in my country that loses its value continuously due to rise in inflation and devaluation, my asset in my crypto wallet does better in withstanding inflation. With the aforementioned pros and cons of centralized banking and decentralized crypto wallet, I prefer having my savings in a crypto wallet.
For my level of acceptance of centralized banking to improve, such financial institutions should increase their securities to make third party intrusion impossible. The online banking services especially in Nigeria should be improved upon. We can't rule out some hitches no matter how perfect the system is and in such a situation, the banks should be up and doing in attending to customers' complaints.
In conclusion, I hope to see a time soon when business transactions in Nigeria would have the option of being done in cryptocurrency. It will be a new dawn.
