Peter Schiff

Puerto Rico regulators closed down Schiff’s bank for not maintaining the net minimum capital requirements. As a result, customers lost access to their accounts following a subsequent freeze.

Prominent economist Peter Schiff, who is well-known in the community for his anti-crypto sentiments, had his bank shut down by Puerto Rico regulators. The revelation, however, led to Crypto Twitter pointing out the “irony” as Schiff’s prediction for Bitcoin (BTC) came true for his own traditional bank.

Puerto Rico regulators closed down Schiff’s bank for not maintaining the net minimum capital requirements, which further impacted the customers as they lost access to their accounts following a subsequent freeze.

Despite no evidence of crimes, Puerto Rico regulators closed my bank anyway for net capital issues, rather than allow a sale to a highly qualified buyer promising to inject capital far in excess of regulatory minimums. As a result accounts are frozen and customers may lose money.

— Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) July 3, 2022

While acknowledging that “customers may lose money,” Schiff stated that he was unaware of the regulatory minimums and was not presented with any form of legal notice prior to the abrupt closure. He added:

“It costs a fortune to run a small bank. That's why I never really made any money. The compliance costs are outrageous.”

As a witness to what many consider an epic plot twist, the crypto community took the opportunity to explain the importance of Bitcoin in reinventing the core of traditional finance.

The irony of this is so hilarious!@PeterSchiff you do realize that if you had been using Bitcoin this would not have been possible!

You should be loving decentralization https://t.co/cDCOWdMowL

— Coach K (30% Crypto, 70% USDC) (@Coachkcrypto) July 4, 2022

Bitcoin podcaster Stephan Livera, too, chimed in on the development as he said, “He's (Schiff) been a #bitcoin skeptic since $17.50 (it's currently $19,100).” The sudden closure of Schiff’s bank in Puerto Rico reignited the discussions around Bitcoin’s resistance to judicial supremacy. 

“The irony here is priceless,” added @HodlMagoo while others rhetorically helped Schiff find a promising alternative to traditional finance, asking “Do you understand why you need bitcoin now?"

On the other end of the spectrum, Puerto Rico has been receptive to crypto acceptance in the region. On April 20, Puerto Rico authorities became the fourth jurisdiction in America to award a money transmitter license to Binance.US, a United States-based subsidiary of crypto exchange Binance.

While the crypto community empathizes with Schiff and the bank’s customers for their losses, the episode further cements Bitcoin’s position as the ultimate replacement of traditional finance.

Related: Deutsche Bank analysts see Bitcoin recovering to $28K by December

Analysts from Deutsche Bank forecasted BTC prices to rebound back to $28,000 by the end of the year despite an ongoing bear market.

Analysts Marion Laboure and Galina Pozdnyakova envisioned the Standard and Poor (S&P) to rebound back to its January levels, which in turn, could result in a 30% increase in Bitcoin’s value from current levels midway through 2022 — bringing up its price to the $28,000 mark.