Monzo and Crypto - Time to adapt?

It’s a pointless discussion as it just becomes circular with the for and against.

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Ah ha.

Community, be heard:

  • Yes, one mega crypto topic
  • No, it’s too big a topic

0 voters

We’ve had a lot of crypto discussions here already.

TL/DR: Some people think Monzo should invest more time and energy in developing crypto currency solutions for its customers. Others don’t.

From the first one I can recall to this one, I haven’t seen anyone with anything new new to say about the subject, either for or against.

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I think it needs to be two-fold.

We have a mega crypto topic that is chugging away nicely discussing crypto and is full of good quality information and discussion.

What is annoying is when people come to the community (no offence OP) and start a topic saying “crypto is the future Monzo need to do it or they’re missing out on millions”. We now have so many of these dating back 5 years that it just gets tiring because:

So every single one is just a repeat of the last one.

Then as mentioned earlier:

So I think we need:

  • One for discussing crypto in general
  • One for voting on Monzo allowing crypto

This one from 2016 is probably best to use as they seem to have been the first to come up with the “idea” in my opinion.

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:point_up:

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Before the crypto lot come for me, let’s pretend I’ve gone through the otherwise disruptive/transformative effects of distributed currencies, the climate impact, and the current tension with governments and policy makers - and that the best bet for Monzo in the short term is to steer well clear.

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My personal opinion is that crypto will not be anywhere near mainstream (used by the majority of the population or in the majority of shops) in the near term. Monzo should continue to focus on making its banking offer the best.

My opinion is if crypto becomes truly mainstream for day to day transactions that in itself could represent a systemic threat to the entire UK banking system. I really can’t see a future government caving into crypto taking over without some sort of fight. A mainstream usage of a decentralised currency like Bitcoin would mean the Government would not be able to support financial actions in the country like during this pandemic or future financial crashes. Central Banks simply wouldn’t be able to control the currency in its own country. Look what happened when Facebook tried to introduce Libracoin, a ton of bricks fell on it quickly.

Even within 10 years is highly optimistic in my opinion unless it was a centralised blockchain controlled by the Bank of England.

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I think the environmental impact of bitcoin is also something that would be a huge barrier to widespread adoption.

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Monzo doesn’t offer any connection to crypto (other than being a source of funds to carefully buy crypto).
There are no known plans for Monzo to offer any connection to crypto beyond :point_up:

The arguments for/against proof-of-work and proof-of-stake are endless, although p-o-s far better for the environment.

China pulling out of crypto-mining is a big deal and one that got my attention as to the future of crypto. It’s very threatening and very threatened at the same time. Overall, I think it will be ‘controlled’ to a level that satisfies the investors but the days of get-rich-quick are most definitely over.

I’m enjoying my modest investments grow though - it’s a technically interesting side-hobby.

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Even if we are to dismiss the possibility of peer to peer transactions, holding crypto is still not something I can see Monzo do, in this universe or any other

There’s the regulatory headache, but then also the volatility of crypto. The average Joe or Jane Public will see the big gains made on memecurrencies and jump on too late and boom, big loss. And then come the telegraph articles about “second year student loses her house deposit because of Monzo and now she can’t even feed her chihuahua avocado toast”

There’s a reason investments have a lot of regulatory burden around them because if you don’t know what you’re doing, you can easily lose big time. Then there’s speculation where your money could quadruple or completely disappear depending on how Elon Musk feels that morning

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A big obstacle here is the tax treatment of crypto. Every time you sell or spend crypto you should be calculating your CGT liability. This isn’t too much trouble if you only do it a few times a year but if you have multiple spends per day it will be too burdensome for most.

Unless tax rules change I can’t see crypto debit cards taking off in any significant way.

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