"If you don't own the keys, you don't own the currency," also applies to fiat currency. If you're not holding the physical cash, you don't actually have control of your money.
Here's a bit of a banking rant for my first post on Hive.
Scotia Bank is at it again for me.
Last week I tried to order a DJI Mavic Mini drone directly from DJI. I've ordered a drone from them before and they are a reputable company. The cost was well under $1000 CAD, yet for some reason, this payment was blocked because it was suspicious activity and I had to call the bank to sort it out.
It seems like a nice gesture that the bank is monitoring all my purchases and flagging things that don't seem right, but it's not. I get a phone notification and an email every time I make a purchase. If there was someone making unauthorized purchases I'd know almost instantly and could then notify the bank.
That was last week right around the time all this COVID-19 stuff started for Canada. I thought it a little suspicious that I couldn't use my credit card to buy something online at a pretty low price. The bank feels right squirrelly while everything is crashing, but maybe that's just me. What if I wanted to order something that was $2,000 or $5,000? I would probably run into the same issue. I didn't even keep the charge as credit and paid it off the card instantly once I got the transaction through.
To sort this out also cost me almost an hour of my time on the phone with the bank plus delayed the shipment by almost 2 days. I purchased expedited shipping to ensure I got the drone this week but with the bank stepping in to "help" I won't get it until next week. With my time and shipping charges that's an extra $80 cost to me. Who's going to pay me back that cost, the bank?
Not a chance, right?
That was just the start, it keeps going.
So with everything crashing, I knew this might be a good time to pick up a bit of Bitcoin at a discounted price. I watched the price all week and, although I didn't hit the exact bottom, I tried to buy some BTC shortly after the price turned around.
Since Quadriga CX shut down, there aren't a whole lot of options for buying cryptocurrency in Canada. I've been using Coinbase for a while and despite the higher fees, it's been working alright - until this week.
I tried to make a BTC purchase and it was canceled. I tried a few times and they all didn't go through and I got emails from Coinbase on each attempt telling me the transaction was canceled and that I should call the bank.
So I called the bank, again.
Another hour on the phone and I got nowhere. The guy on the line told me everything was fine and I should be able to make the transaction, even though I tried while he was on the phone and the same thing happened. He put me on hold for a little while so he could check some things and when he came back, things were weird. He quickly kind of wrapped up the conversation saying everything is good and I should try again and if it didn't work then to call back. He pretty much hung up on me in the politest way possible.
So I tried again.
Still the same thing, only this time my card is removed from too many failed attempts and I can't add it back. I get an email from Coinbase saying this is most likely due to changes in Scotia Bank's rules changing.
I also tried adding my credit card, but that has also been blocked from buying cryptocurrency. I'm not sure if that's Scotia Bank or Visa's doing.
So Scotia Bank won't admit it, but they are joining a number of other Canadian banks that won't let people buy cryptocurrency. This is a very suspicious rule change given the fact everything else is crashing.
This gets me a little worried and I'm figuring if I can't actually spend my money with the bank and they aren't paying me hardly any interest, then I should probably get some money out of there before things really start to crash.
I'm waiting for verification on Coinberry to see if I can get some BTC there. It's another Canadian exchange that can hopefully fill the gap of selling cryptocurrency in Canada that was once filled by Quadriga CX.
I've been home with my son all week laying low. I had the week off for March break anyway so aside from skipping a few runs to the hardware store, not much has changed during this 'social distancing' experiment we're all participating in. Anyway, I tried transferring a sum of money to @inkpixie because she was already out and could make the withdrawal without me having to take my son out with me.
She returned with only 1/3 of the money I wanted to be taken out. She said they were asking her some questions about why she wanted that amount, which is none of their business. They told her she'd have to come back next week when the other 2/3rds of the money would be ready.
This is a bit of a predicament. I can't spend my money online and I can't take my money out to spend it either.
If I can't spend my money or have access to it, who's money is it then?
With three different attempts to spend my money this week all blocked by the bank in the name of "protecting me", it sure doesn't feel like mine anymore.
Hopefully, I can get the rest of my funds out before the Bail-Ins start.