THE BANK STRIKES BACK
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There are announcements that light up the press, excite influencers, and reassure casual investors, but for those who understand the true nature of Bitcoin, they have the opposite effect of a spotlight. When BPCE, France's third-largest banking group, officially announced that it would allow millions of customers to buy, hold, and sell Bitcoin directly from its mobile app, the initial reaction from the general public was euphoria. Newcomers saw it as a sign of modernity. The media spoke of a historic turning point. Analysts celebrated a major step forward for the democratization of cryptocurrencies. And yet, those who had long understood Bitcoin immediately sensed that something was amiss. This feeling was neither instinctive nor elitist. It was the logical consequence of what Bitcoin is and what banks represent.
BPCE plans to integrate Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana into the Banque Populaire and Caisse d'Épargne apps starting Monday. The initial launch will cover four regions, including Banque Populaire Île-de-France and Caisse d'Épargne Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, affecting approximately two million customers at launch. The plan is clear: to gradually roll out this service to all regional entities, reaching the group's twelve million customers by 2026. From a banker's perspective, the move is brilliant. From a Bitcoiner's perspective, it's a massive, almost blatant, warning sign, carefully packaged in a discourse of modernity and controlled innovation.
What's shocking isn't so much the functionality itself. People are already buying Bitcoin on Revolut, Trade Republic, Bitstack, or Binance. What's shocking is the symbolism. A major French bank, a pillar of the fiat system, suddenly decides to embrace the asset it has fought, ignored, scorned, ridiculed, and demonized for over a decade. Even European banks are starting to follow suit: BBVA in Spain allows users to buy, sell, and store Bitcoin and Ethereum directly from its apps, with in-house custody. Openbank, Santander's digital arm, offers trading and custody of five cryptocurrencies. Raiffeisen Bank's Vienna subsidiary has partnered with Bitpanda to offer the same type of service. The entire European banking sector is synchronizing around the same idea. This isn't convergence. It's a counterattack.
We need to face facts. For fifteen years, banks tried to keep Bitcoin at bay. They blocked transfers, closed accounts, imposed absurd restrictions, and participated in smear campaigns. They did everything they could to prevent their customers from using Bitcoin because they perceived it as a direct threat. If they are changing their strategy today, it's not out of a love for innovation. It's not out of conviction. It's out of necessity. It's because the market has turned against them. It's because too many people are starting to understand that Bitcoin is a way out. It's because they sense their historical role is eroding. A bank doesn't adopt what threatens its model. It tries to integrate it in order to neutralize it.
BPCE is hinting at it. Buying and selling cryptocurrencies will be done through a dedicated digital asset account managed by Hexard, the group's crypto subsidiary. The key word here isn't crypto. It's subsidiary. The customer owns nothing. They browse, they click, they have the impression of buying. This isn't Satoshi's Bitcoin. It's the bank's Bitcoin. A packaged, encapsulated, controlled Bitcoin, accompanied by a monthly fee of $3.48 and a 1.5% commission per transaction. That line alone should be enough to make the real intention clear. This isn't an educational mission. It isn't a philosophical exploration. It's a product. And a banking product was never designed to liberate you, only to capture you.
Even more worrying is the complete lack of autonomy. BPCE specifies that users will not need an external exchange platform or a third-party wallet. One might think this is a simplification for beginners. In reality, it's a lock. A way to keep customers within the enclosure. The implicit message is clear: don't go out, don't hold anything, don't manage anything, we'll take care of everything. And if one day it becomes necessary to block, suspend, regulate, or tax, everything will already be in place. The customer will have no recourse. No direct access. No freedom.
Banks know that most people are looking for the easy way out. They prey on ignorance. They prey on the fear of responsibility. They prey on the deeply ingrained idea that money should be managed by someone else. Bitcoin is the exact opposite: it's a technology that forces you to grow up. To become responsible. To become sovereign. It's precisely this role reversal that's causing panic among the banks.
The French political climate makes all of this even more worrying. Last month, members of parliament approved an amendment to the wealth tax aimed at taxing unproductive assets, including cryptocurrencies, at a rate of 1% on any net worth exceeding $2.3 million. This amendment is not yet final, but it clearly outlines the intention: Bitcoin is a tax target. Eric Larchevêque, co-founder of Ledger, sounded the alarm, explaining that this measure could force some holders to sell their bitcoins to pay their taxes if they don't have enough cash. In a country where taxation is already stifling, entrusting one's Bitcoin to a bank is not simply a technical error. It's an act of self-destruction. It's surrendering any possibility of resistance.
If a bank sells you Bitcoin, it can also prevent you from doing so. That's the harsh reality of this custody model. You have no control over the asset. You have no access to your keys. You have no power over your money. You're a tenant, not an owner. And like any rental agreement, the landlord can change the rules whenever they want. Withdrawal suspensions. Limitations. Freezing. Geographic restrictions. Automatic tax reporting. Temporary suspension of transactions in case of perceived excessive volatility. And in the worst-case scenario, confiscation or administrative seizure.
Bitcoin wasn't created to be held this way. Bitcoin wasn't created to live in a digital cage managed by an institution that reserves the right to press a button. Bitcoin is a radical response to this system. A rejection. An exit. A bridge out of the banking world, not an extension of it. Watching banks claim to offer Bitcoin as a service is like watching an arsonist firefighter explain how to prevent fires. It all rings false. It's all upside down.
The general public will only see the reassuring veneer. An app they already know. A familiar screen. A “buy” button that looks like a reasonable, almost innocuous decision. The bank knows that most people don't want to learn. They want to delegate. They want to be guided. They want a sanitized crypto experience. They want the promise without the responsibility. That's exactly what BPCE is offering them. It's not adoption. It's a trap.
Competition from fintechs like Revolut, Trade Republic, and Bitstack also explains this haste. Banks cannot bear to lose a market segment. They cannot bear to see younger generations preferring other players. They cannot bear to no longer be the sole guardians of savings and cash flow. If they are embracing Bitcoin, it is not out of conviction, but out of fear of losing control. They sense that a paradigm shift is coming and they are trying to regain control before it is too late.
The message is clear: they want you to stay in their system, even when you think you're leaving it. Here's the truth no one dares state publicly: a Bitcoin bought from Banque Populaire isn't a Bitcoin. It's a banking promise backed by Bitcoin. A derivative product. A perfectly calibrated illusion designed to give the feeling of participating in a revolution while remaining trapped within the walls of the old system. It's a bit like buying an exercise bike thinking you'll travel. You move your legs, but you don't go anywhere.
Everything that gives Bitcoin its value disappears the moment it's sold by a bank. Censorship resistance vanishes. Sovereignty vanishes. Independence vanishes. Actual ownership vanishes. All that remains is the price, a small green or red curve that rises or falls. This is precisely what Bitcoin is not. Bitcoin has never been a speculative asset. It's a protocol for independence. A tool for disruption. Insurance against monetary madness. An exit from the system. Not a product of this system.
Long-time Bitcoiners know this. They didn't wait for a bank to validate Bitcoin to believe in it. They didn't need that institutional endorsement. They know the network's strength lies in its permissionless nature. They know the private key is the boundary between freedom and dependence. They know the seed phrase is a political act. They know mining at home, even on a small scale, is more revolutionary than buying €500 worth of BTC through a banking app. They know that ease is often a mask for control.
100Blocks' role is to explain this to newcomers, to those who are hesitant, to those who are still unaware of the underlying mechanisms. 100Blocks' role is to remind everyone that Bitcoin is not an investment but a personal transformation. When a bank offers you Bitcoin, it's offering you a pre-designed, controlled, and, above all, monitored version. It doesn't want to empower you. It wants to keep you as a customer. It wants to recoup what it's losing.
On Monday, millions of French people will open their banking apps and see a “Bitcoin” tab for the first time. Many will click on it, some out of curiosity, others opportunism, and many out of ignorance. They will feel like they are entering the future. In reality, they will be entering the oldest strategy of the financial system: absorbing what it cannot destroy. This is not a victory for Bitcoin. It is an attempt to regain control.
A bank selling Bitcoin is not a sign of market maturity. It's a sign of weakness in the banking system. It's an institution recognizing that it no longer wields the cultural influence it once did. It's an institution sensing that the narrative is cracking. It's a system realizing, too late, that the next generation no longer belongs to it.
Bitcoin has never needed banks. Banks are starting to need Bitcoin. And that's precisely why we need to redouble our efforts in education, public awareness, and sovereignty. This isn't the time for celebration. It's the time for clear thinking.
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