The banking crisis in Europe goes even further in Italy. While in countries like Germany and France we see only a decline of major banks’ asset prices, in Italy besides the banking crisis itself another problem occurred - civilian Italians began to distrust bank transfers and payments. One of the possible solutions may be Bitcoin, which can serve as a salutary means, grow in price and even get official recognition in the country.Europe’s new big problem is the banking crisis in Italy. The devastating effects of this crisis may be greater than the effect of the Brexit. At the moment, Italian banks have accumulated problem of overdue loans to the sum of €360 billion. This situation, plus the results of the British referendum has put the banking sector on the brink of survival.
A few days after the Brexit referendum, bank index FTSE Italia Banche decreased by 30% and yearly the reduction total is about 60%. The bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena is one of the first that could become a victim of the crisis, as it has about €47 billion of bad debts in Italy.
“Brexit referendum is the proof that crisis will involve not just Euro itself but entire eurozone system especially Italy, where we can see the effects of decrease of the cost of money decided in February 2016 by European Central Bank; However, Piazza Affari stock exchange felt in a big storm cause of Euro/Dollar change. So we can expect a paralyzed industry scenario with high level issues for imports of various manufactured goods from UK,”said Giorgio Squinzi president of Confindustria.
Another upcoming storm of crisis?
As we know, the global crisis of recent years began with a banking crisis. The recession, which may start or have already begun in Italy, could spread to the rest of the EU. The government can give financial assistance to the banking sector, but EU rules do not allow the use of taxpayers' money to solve the crisis.
Carlo Messina, CEO of Intesa Sanpaolo bank said to the Il Sole 24 Ore newspaper:
“Mass purchase of equities by Eurosystem made the country in deflation, so as a consequence of privatization of National Emergency Fund Authority we can see progressive collapse of Italian and eurozone-related banking system; to avoid this scenario, Italian government is asking to people to pay our losses with their own money; I don’t think this is accepted by Italian people. So if they won’t pay our losses I really suggest exit of Italy from eurozone know as Italexit which in my opinion will be the only way for restarting of Italian economy.”
How can Italy escape the banking crisis, time will tell. But ordinary Italians face a new challenge everyday. Due to the banking crisis the risk of losing money when conducting money transfers and payments has increased. But Bitcoin may be a salvation. Here are a few reasons why:
- Firstly, Bitcoin can be bought on any exchange that works with cryptocurrency and make the payment. The money recipient will take payment in Bitcoin and cash out the money without any problems.- Secondly, the recipient is not obliged to cash out the received bitcoins, as these can be stored in the wallet until the next calculation.
- Third, while fiat money and securities are decreasing, Bitcoin may well serve as an investment tool or simply as a means of savings.
Possibilities of Italexit
According to recent sociological surveys, more than half of Italians are willing to come to a referendum and vote for the exit of Italy from the European Union. If an Italexit takes place, it will have one major difference from the Brexit - Britain, when they were in the EU, have kept their national currency the British Pound, while Italians abandoned their Lira and adopted the Euro. Now, in the case of Italexit they will have to abandon the Euro and re-enact the national currency. Perhaps it will be the Italian Lira again. If this happens, it may cause the beginning of the collapse of the Euro.However, together with the Lira, Italy may accept Bitcoin as a means of payment, and even as a second state currency.
Thus, the banking crisis in Italy can give a rise to the recognition of Bitcoin at the state level in Europe. And Italy may become the first such country in Europe. The price of Bitcoin is to grow definitely. What do you think? Albert Libenzon
If I were a citizen of the following countries:
....aw, fuck it-- Earth-- I'd get my assets into a mix of non-fiat backed whatevers.
Just sayin.
We experimented a BTC rise when Greec was in trouble. Italy may have a bigger effet because there won't be any intempt from the italian government to control the citizen funds. That would be actually really cool for crypto currencies as a whole, not only BTC.
Flawed - when banks close accounts etc - where do you cash out ? even the exchanges have bank accounts to cash out to you ....