You are the Bank

Back in the 1930 depression, people found out the hard way, that they could not trust banks, they woke up one morning and their money was simple "not there".. People who experienced this "reality" started to store notes under their bed, as they trusted that cash would be there in the morning.
This was the era when banks needed physical storage, bank vaults to protect peoples "money",  roll forward to 2015, money is now just a bag of bits inside a computer, the need for physical "vaults" has disappeared.

Due to the lack of investment and antiquated computing and payment systems, the typical smartphone has more combined computing power, and can be made more secure than any payment network today.

This raises the Question perhaps in a digital world "You are a bank"..
Back in 2012, I bogged about The Goldsmith Who Became a Banker , which essentially outlines how banks came about, and perhaps also why they are no longer relevant.

Banking Today?
Consider your basic bank account, checking, savings, passbook, etc. Banks go through massive contortions to create an illusion that your money is yours, that its safe and sound in a bank with your name on  it, in your own virtual safe deposit box. But that is simply not the reality of modern banking. What you perceive as “your money” is little more than an electronic journal on the banks accounting ledgers.
Fractional reserve banking means that the $100 you deposit is lent out only $10 of your $100 is kept in reserve. Under normal circumstances, with thousands of depositors and millions of dollars, the banks have no trouble giving customers who ask for their money back the full amount at any time. But it is not as if your money is sitting in an account waiting for you — you merely have a claim on those monies, and that claim is insured, and backed by taxpayers (theoretically).

You are, in fact, a counter-party to your bank.

Digital Wallets
First the traditional leather wallet is a storage mechanism for consumers’ cash, credit, debit and loyalty cards.

Next the mobile network operators sought to take the digital wallet concept offline by storing payment credentials within the mobile device the SIM card, and transmitting the credential to payment terminals via a near field communications radio.

Today Digital Wallets which incorporated the mobile wallet solution directly into a secure portion of the operating system, and simultaneously incorporated a secure memory chip, an NFC radio, and a fingerprint reader. 

This is a hardware/operating system combination designed to facilitate transactions everywhere the device goes. The operating system is the only be-everywhere alternative that can seamlessly interact with every application, every website and every bit or byte that crosses the mobile device.

So, we are left with the death of the digital wallet concept and only the "physical wallet survives", but in a mobile form.

What does this mean? It means that banks no longer "need" to secure your "money", your mobile phone under your control, is more secure than any existing banking or credit card payments or monetary value storage system which exists today. In fact it is very similar to the 1994 Mondex digital cash system, except that unlike Mondex which was owned 100% by banks, this physical wallet is owned and controlled by "You"..

You are the Bank
As you have taken back control of  "your" money, what you do with it is now totally under your control, you are the bank..
When combined with a Payments Block Chain Ledger, and P2P protocols, you can remote payments more securely than SWIFT or any existing payments network like Visa or Master Card anywhere in the work, much like good old Mondex did 20 years ago.

This solution can be more secure than any virtual currency, such as Bitcoin, and the many other variants.

In the same way bitcoin invented a "censorship resistant" virtual currency, being your own bank takes this concept to the ultimate level of individual control and utility..

Being "unbanked" simply no-longer matters,

You are the Bank!

Disclaimer The contents of this site should not be understood to be accounting, taxation or investment advice but rather as general product related educational information that may or may not meet your specific requirements.