On the weaponisation of the financial system
The financial system / the banking sector has arguably increasingly been used as a political tool over the past several years, sometimes an extra-legal one. And not only against various "axis of evil" countries but also against domestic citizens or groups.
Nothing to see here, or a trend?
What do you think about the examples below? Who will be the next querdenker or group of lateral thinkers to be denied using a bank account, or get his, hers or their assets frozen?
(Last updated 2022-11-05)
Examples against domestic citizens or groups
- 🇺🇸 2010 Operation Payback: Visa, MasterCard and PayPal choked off donations to WikiLeaks
- 🇺🇸 2010 Tea Party: IRS official admitted the agency had been aggressively scrutinizing groups with names such as "Tea Party" and "Patriots"
- 🇺🇸 2013 Operation Choke Point: The US government pressured banks to "debank" gun sellers, coal producers, etc
- 🇹🇷 2016 Gülen supporters: The Turkish government cancelled a banking license over Gülen links
- 🇮🇪 2016 Pro-Palestine activists: Palestine bank account closures in Ireland “clearly political”
- 🇺🇸 2017 Jihad Watch: Online payment company PayPal banned Jihad Watch and the site’s director Robert Spencer from accepting donations
- 🇺🇸 2018 Gab social media. Gab was banned by Strip. The twitter-like service said it was placed on "banking blacklist"
- 🇩🇪 2018 Nicolaus Fest: German AfD politician Nicolaus Fest debanked by Deutsche Bank
- 🇺🇸 2018 Proud boys: Shopify banned shops tied to the Proud Boys
- 🇦🇹 2020 Martin Sellner: Austrian activist Martin Sellner claims to have been blocked by 17 banks
- 🇸🇪 2020 Swedish journalist: Swedbank terminated a journalists bank account without just cause
- 🇺🇸 2020 Amazon: Amazon halted donations to members of Congress who voted against certifying the Electoral College results
- 🇺🇸 2020 New Project 2: Patreon Alternative New Project 2 was banned by MasterCard
- 🇺🇸 2021 January 6 protestors: PayPal and Venmo banned organizers of the "Stop the Steal" rally. Stripe, Shopify and GoFundMe acted similarly
- 🇺🇸 2021 Fair access rule paused: OCC announced pause of the "Fair Access" rule that was intended to prevent another Operation Choke Point
- 🇺🇦 2021 Anatoly Shariy: Ukrainian politician (blogger?) Anatoly Sharij’s real estate and bank accounts were frozen
- 🇨🇦 2022 Canadian truckers: The Canadian government froze bank accounts for "anyone linked" with protests
- 🇺🇦 2022 Anatoly Shariy: Ukrainian politician Anatoly Sharij claims Binance cryptocurrency exchange took money from his wallet
- 🇺🇸 2022 Firearm retailers: Visa, Mastercard and American Express added ISO merchant category for firearms retailers after political pressure. This opens up for information sharing to third parties (i.e. who is buying a gun, potentially side-stepping the US Constitution)
- 🇺🇸 2022 PayPal; PayPal attempted to impose a $2500 fine on users who promoted "misinformation"
- 🇬🇧 2022 Santander. Santander UK announced limits of payments to crypto exchanges
Examples when the banking sector needed a bail-in or bailout
- 🇨🇾 2014 Haircuts on savings; The government confiscated parts of households' savings through haircuts on deposit accounts
- 🇱🇧 2022 Withdrawal limits: The country of Lebanon was hit by a wave of robberies after imposing withdrawal limits
International examples of using the financial system as a weapon
- 🇮🇷 2018 Iran: SWIFT suspended Iranian banks' access to messaging system
- 🇻🇪 2019 Venezuelan gold: Bank of England blocking the release of 31 tonnes of gold
- 🇷🇺 2022 Russia: International sanctions during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
Examples of when Swedish authorities confiscated cash
- 🇸🇪 2017 Confiscation: 98-year-old Ada wanted to trade in her bank notes - the government confiscated her life savings
- 🇸🇪 2017 Confiscation: Gunnar tried to redeem SEK 311,500 - but the Riksbank kept all the money
- 🇸🇪 2021 Confiscation: Inherited SEK 85,000 from his father – the government confiscated the banknotes
- 🇸🇪 2021 Confiscation: Gunnar had 2.6 MSEK in his bedroom - now the Riksbank will burn it all
What do you think? Feel free to share your comments below.
Cover image: Italian tank C-1 Ariete. No changes were made to the image retrieved from WikiMedia Commons.
Comments