HSBC, a British multinational bank, recently issued a one-month notice stating that it would be shutting down an account linked to the protesters in Hong Kong. Following this announcement, it was reported on November 18 by the Hong Kong Economic Journal that the account has indeed been since closed.

This incident is a clear indication that using crypto is advantageous over fiat which is handled by traditional banks. At least this recent incident has taught us that banks are susceptible to political pressure.

The bank alleged that the account closure was as a result of an internal accounts review which revealed that the account was falsely used. They said this in an attempt to relegate any evidence of a political influence in this move.

However, such an explanation isn’t tangible enough to close down an account from a country which has generated about 35% of the bank’s revenue.

Meanwhile, there are claims that this particular account isn’t the only one whose closure was politically related. There are allegations that Bitplay’s blockage of the donations to the Hong Kong Free Press was also politically linked.

Such undesirable incidents will begin shifting people’s attention to the use of crypto. The decentralized nature of crypto gives it a competitive advantage over fiat which is controlled by Banks that are under political pressure. This sad incident which has happened could push the crypto industry to become more vibrant and increase its adoption.

Featured image courtesy of Shutterstock