After a career in banking and finance, serial entrepreneur Simon Dixon became disillusioned with the banking system and tried to create his own fair bank for the people. He was not allowed to do so, but then he discovered bitcoin and started to invest in the infrastructure around it.
Back in 2011 Dixon was trying his best to create a full reserve bank. He had already identified three problems in traditional banking, and wanted to fix them with his own bank.
Problem number one was that when someone deposited money in a bank, the bank became the legal owner. Number two was that the bank could spend that money, and the third issue was that the bank increased the money supply everytime it issued a loan.
The supply of money and digital currency was used by banks as debt, so Dixon wanted to do the opposite of this and create a bank where people could own their money, spend it, and hold it on trust so that new money was not created every time a loan was issued.
However, the financial system threw up what would become insurmountable barriers to Dixon’s creation of a fair bank. First of all the UK regulator demanded that Dixon step down and that a CEO from the financial system who ‘knew’ about banks be put in his place.
Dixon was told that he also needed to deposit £16 million with the Bank of England even before any discussions could take place.
Finally, he was informed that his proposed bank would have to create money in order to receive a bankers licence, and would have to engage in fractional reserve banking, and issue loans just as all the other banks were doing.
Therefore, Dixon realised that he wouldn’t be able to do what he believed was right and had to abandon the project.
However, in 2011 he attended, and spoke at, the very first Bitcoin conference. He grasped the idea straight away that bitcoin was sound and sovereign money and he pivoted his company Bank to the Future, and began to use it to invest in many of the infrastructure projects that surrounded bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.
On the Swan Signal YouTube channel, Dixon says of the bitcoin revolution:
“We finally have the ability to own your money, to spend your own money, and we have a fixed supply, so we don’t need to worry about what’s happening in the traditional system. All they need to do is carry on doing what they’re doing – we can carry on doing what we’re doing, and more and more people are finding that the demand for money that you can own, money that you can spend, and money that has a fixed supply is increasing for individuals, companies, and countries, so it’s a very exciting time.”
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
