Bitcoin was long said to bank the unbanked, or even free people from forced dependence on traditional banking services. However, the historical irony is that it is now Bitcoin that is transforming banking from within, marking its definitive victory as a superior financial system.
This is not a passive adoption: it is the surrender of the powerful actors of the previous financial system, who got tired of fighting, recognized that they could not compete and, above all, understood that they gain more by integrating Bitcoin than by resisting. The capitulation of the banks means that Bitcoin has made the traditional system obsolete, not by destroying it at once—as some expected—but by metabolizing it and forcing it to evolve under its rules.
Bitcoin now has the same validity as a house to support the issuance of loans with eight of the largest banks in the United States. JP Morgan, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citi, BNY Mellon, Charles Schwab, are the major banks in offering this service in the United States.
In just under a year, banks went from a Chokepoint operation that excluded cryptocurrency companies from banking services, to banks becoming cryptocurrency companies themselves. This shows how the banks got tired of fighting, realized that they could not win and, even more, understood that their profit was greater by accepting Bitcoin as superior.
Like a river that floods everything in its path, cryptocurrency companies are beginning to gain banking prerogatives. Firms such as BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, Paxos, Ripple and First National Digital Currency Bank received approval to become banks.
By becoming banks, these entities gain access to the Federal Reserve network, including potential reserve deposits and participation in federal payment systems. This represents a profound transformation in the financial infrastructure of the United States, allowing them to operate with the same level of integration as traditional banks.
By obtaining federal charters from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, these firms no longer rely exclusively on correspondent banks to process transactions, which has historically made operations in the crypto sector more expensive and slowed down; Instead, they can request direct access to systems like Fedwire for real-time fund transfers and ACH for bulk electronic payments, reducing interbank fees and speeding settlements that previously took days to minutes or seconds.
The border between banks and cryptocurrency companies is practically eliminated and Bitcoin is normalized as a legitimate instrument of finance. And this will become increasingly deeper, now that the Federal Reserve (FED) abolished the guideline that restricted banks from offering services with cryptocurrencies.
Given the first signs of regulatory relaxation, banks, which hardly innovate with their products, are now rushing to offer bitcoin.
This nips in the bud the hypothetical argument that Bitcoin could be banned or stopped. It is anachronistic to even think about it. Although it has long been technically unlikely due to the geographical distribution of the nodes, now, with this degree of adoption, it becomes unthinkable.
Banks do not adopt Bitcoin for nothing. Just imagine how much internal conflict Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan, after years claiming that Bitcoin was a scam and would be stopped by governments, now has to swallow his words and decide to integrate cryptocurrencies into his product portfolio.
Banks adopt Bitcoin because it is where the money is and where it goes. Almost $2 trillion of money, if we go by its market capitalization, that cannot be ignored. It is the product that people want. If banks are offering loans with Bitcoin, it is not because they want to venture to see how the idea works. It’s because your customers demand it. And loans are one of its main businesses. It’s because companies like Ledn They already exceed one billion dollars in loan concessions in less than a year. And if banks don’t offer this service, their customers will inevitably look for another company that does.
In turn, this means that people not only demand Bitcoin, but they already have it and don’t want to spend it. People already understand that Bitcoin is a digital property and would rather raise debt from their bitcoin, spend dollars that are subject to inflation, than simply sell it. Because they know that Bitcoin appreciates over time and that their dollars depreciate.
At first, this will strengthen the US dollar by increasing its demand for credit, since loans are granted in USD, injecting fiat liquidity into the economy and potentially stabilizing or increasing its value in the short term by attracting more demand for sovereign debt and stablecoins backed by Treasury Bills.
However, the flip side is that hoarding BTC and using it as collateral transfers value from USD to Bitcoin, eroding the dollar’s dominance as a long-term global reserve; For individuals, this favors those who hold BTC by preserving tax-free profits, but harms non-holders by increasing inequalities and exposure to volatility; For governments, it maintains the status quo temporarily by boosting spending, but could challenge their monetary control if Bitcoin becomes a global reference, forcing policies such as reserves in BTC to counter fiat devaluation.
As BTC is hoarded, it goes out of circulation, with greater demand, bitcoin rises in price. With the price increase, people can apply for new loans to pay off their previous loans. This makes much more sense than selling because of the tax advantages of debt: selling bitcoin is a tax action; Issuing debt does not trigger capital gains taxes.
But adoption is not limited to loans: we are seeing a transformation in the underlying ledgers of the financial system. Actors such as SWIFT have announced the integration of blockchain-based ledgers to improve efficiency in cross-border payments, while banks and fintechs adopt tokenization and other Bitcoin-inspired technologies—even if initially permitted—as an intermediate step toward full bitcoinization.
This is no coincidence: Bitcoin’s superiority in terms of security, decentralization and efficiency forces these players to “copy” elements to survive, but will eventually lead them to fully integrate, monetizing the process while accelerating the global transition.
Loans are one of the oldest services of humanity. 2,000 years ago in Mesopotamia, temples acted as primitive “banks”, lending grain, livestock or silver to farmers and merchants with interest, documented on clay tablets as loan contracts.
The idea of the loan changed its form, although not its substance, with the evolution of banking. In the Renaissance, the standardization of bills of exchange and double-entry bookkeeping facilitated complex loans and deposit tracking. In the 19th century, the introduction of mortgage and personal loans boosted access to housing and the creation of industries. In the 20th century, credit cards marked a before and after for personal finances.
Now, the massification of loans with Bitcoin marks a new revolution in the history of credit. Bitcoin is liquid 24/7, divisible, portable and with deep markets. It allows instant settlements and real-time monitoring, reducing risks compared to real estate or stocks (which close markets). This will inevitably force the bank to update so that its general services are also 24/7.
This is the beginning of banking adoption. No longer just offering buying and selling, but integrating it into all your financial services. It won’t be long before we see bank wallets. And entering the wallets means entering the Bitcoin nodes, the Lightning nodes. Entering there is entering the world of atomic and universal means of payment.
It means that more money will enter Bitcoin. Their customers will move from traditional products to Bitcoin and cryptocurrency products. The legitimacy that these banks have will also help customers who were hesitant to buy Bitcoin now normalize it.
Bitcoin didn’t destroy the banks: the banks metabolized it. But as they say in the ecosystem: you don’t change to Bitcoin; Bitcoin changes you. With this adoption, it will be the banks that will become more bitcoiners, having to adapt their services to the new best collateral.
This is what it looks like when Bitcoin wins: with adversaries who silently declare defeat and ask to get in.