In Hong Kong, the violent protests against the controversial extradition bill are continuing. And the fight is taking a new turn. Now, it has emerged that the banking behemoth HSBC has closed down a crowd-funding account that accepted donations for supporting the protests.
According to reports, the bank stated that “the use of the account does not conform with the stated purpose when the account was opened.”
Despite the report, the situation remains unclear. Thus, in correspondence with Bloomberg, a representative of the bank said, “As part of our responsibility to know our customers and safeguard the financial industry, we regularly review our customers’ accounts.” She did not, however, comment on the account-in-question.
Other sources state that the group representatives still get access to the account.
Bitcoin to the rescue (again)?
In light of the protests and the purported bank shutdown, some have once again reminded of Bitcoin’s utility.
For instance, a popular twitter handle @Rythmtrader argues so. In a tweet, he states “BREAKING: HSBC just shut down bank accounts for Hong Kong anti-extradition bill events, as reported by the Hong Kong Economic Journal. I.E. closing accounts for protesting demonstrations. Bitcoin fixes this.”
The argument boils down to the fact that Bitcoin has no central authority. Thus, it is impossible for a regulator or an authority to shut it down and effectively deprive you of funds. This is not the first time people are being reminded about the benefits of Bitcoin during various turmoils.
To that end, it’s noteworthy that in Hong Kong the appetite for the coin is growing. Thus, in October, the P2P exchange LocalBitcoins in Hong Kong recorded its highest BTC trade volume. In just a week’s time over $13 Million worth of HKDs were invested into BTC. This is happening at the time when Hong Kong exchanges continue to…
