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Comment by balderdash | Hacker News Reader

“Offshore banking” today brings to mind white collar criminals, tax evaders, etc. but over time it has served to protect people from capricious actions of the state. Not sure why one needs to resort to bitcoin when they could just use a bank account in the US (in the Canadian example).

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I feel like people make getting an offshore account sound easier than it is. I live in the US, and when I opened my US accounts, I needed to give them my SSN. Canadians don't have SSNs.

Just now I tried opening an account at a few random Canadian banks, and they all say I need to be living in Canada. How is an average joe supposed to work around those requirements?

I'm not saying it should be easier either. When you're dealing with state-issued currencies there are reasons for those restrictions. But the draw of bitcoin is that it's politically neutral and you don't need to jump through the hoops of any particular country, or hire a lawyer to navigate foreign laws. Just download an open source app and you're ready to go.

We can debate the relative conveniences of either, but my broader point remains, which I may have poorly stated, is that anything that reduces a governments, ability to apply financial pressure to the residence whether it be bitcoin, offshore, bank, accounts, or cash, can be used for legitimate purposes, or nefarious ones

Wise, formerly Transferwise, fulfills this niche pretty well. They give actual bank accounts in many of the other countries, in your name.

Really solved a Euro banking issue I had for legitimate incoming SEPA transfers

I even used a US LLC and got a Euro bank account that European clients felt familiar and comfortable with

A lot of banks stopped servicing Americans due to the paperwork with FATCA treaty, but that was 12 years ago and some have stepped in to fulfill the niche

They protect rich people from having to follow the rules that apply to everyone else. I say this as a conviction capitalist and neoliberal, but on this my friends on the left are quite correct.

It’s the other side of the same coin is my point. It’s the same arguments with paper currency - only criminals use cash or is cash a way to avoid surveillance capitalism and confiscatory banking policies? Both!

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