In 2018, unbanked and underbanked Americans spent $189 billion in fees and interest on financial products. Not investment returns—fees. For the privilege of participating in a system that wouldn't fully serve them.

Meanwhile, Bank of America alone has paid $82 billion in fines since 2000. Financial services is the most fined industry in the world.

The unbanked are excluded from a system with problems. The bankless opt out entirely.

Key Takeaways

• 63 million Americans are unbanked or underbanked. Globally, rates range from 0% (Norway) to 70%+ (Morocco).
• Non-custodial wallets let anyone become their own bank—no application, no credit check, no permission.
• The shift from "unbanked" to "bankless" isn't just semantic. It's moving from exclusion to independence.

The Unbanked

The number of unbanked citizens varies globally—from roughly 0% in Norway and Sweden to over 70% in Morocco. The US, the "richest" country globally, had 22% of its adults unbanked or underbanked in 2019. That's 63 million people.

Being unbanked means no:

• Interest on deposits
• Stock market access
• Online bill pay
• Internet purchases
• Credit access

Instead, you're stuck with money orders and prepaid cards—inefficient alternatives that rack up fees.

Banking, when it works, provides genuine financial freedom. The problem: not all banks are good ones. And even good ones have structural issues.

The Problems with Banking

Trust Is a Luxury

Trustworthy bank accounts are a luxury. In the US, FDIC insurance covers up to $250,000—backed by the full faith and credit of the US government. In developing countries, bank deposits face currency volatility, political instability, and the ever-present risk of bank runs.

And banks everywhere practice fractional-reserve lending: they don't hold your money—they lend it out.

How Fractional Reserve Works

When you deposit $10, the bank keeps $1 and lends out $9. That $9 gets deposited elsewhere, and 90% of it gets lent out again. Your $10 becomes $19 in the economy. Then $27. Then more.

This capital creation drives economies forward—in theory. In practice:

• You pay fees to deposit
• You earn little or no interest
• The bank profits from your liquidity
• If too many people withdraw at once, the system breaks

The Ponzi Question

Skeptics call cryptocurrencies Ponzi schemes. Sometimes they're right. But consider how US Treasuries work:

1. Government spends all tax revenue
2. Issues Treasury bonds to keep spending
3. Old bonds must be paid back with interest
4. Government issues new bonds to pay old bonds

The SEC defines a Ponzi scheme as "an investment fraud that pays existing investors with funds collected from new investors."

The comparison isn't perfect—governments have taxing authority and money printers. But the structural similarity is worth noting.

The Track Record

Beyond the 2008 financial crisis, banks have accumulated hundreds of billions in fines for bad behavior. Since 2000:

Bank	Fines Paid	Number of Fines
Bank of America	$82.7B	214
JPMorgan Chase	$35.7B	158
Citigroup	$25.5B	122
Wells Fargo	$21.3B	181
Deutsche Bank	$18.2B	59
UBS	$16.8B	83
Goldman Sachs	$16.4B	44

Total industry fines since 2000: $330+ billion across 6,000+ violations.

Financial services is the most fined industry in the world. These are the institutions we're supposed to trust.

Going Bankless

Before Bitcoin, your only alternative to banking was being unbanked—with all its problems. Now there's a third option: bankless.

Non-custodial wallets let anyone, anywhere, open what amounts to a private bank and investment account on a blockchain. No application. No approval. No trust required.

How It Works

When you deposit money into a bank or exchange, you trust them to:

• Honor your balance
• Give you access to your funds
• Not freeze your account
• Not go bankrupt

With a non-custodial wallet, the blockchain collectively verifies your balance. Only you—with your mnemonic phrase—can access the funds.

No counterparty risk. No permission needed. No one can close your account.

The Shift

For the first time in history, individuals can self-custody their assets without intermediaries.

The path used to be: unbanked → banked (if you're lucky).

Now it's: unbanked → bankless (if you choose).

This is already happening. In Africa and Southeast Asia, high unbanked rates coincide with high blockchain adoption. People aren't waiting for banks to accept them—they're building around them.

The distinction matters: being unbanked means exclusion from a system. Being bankless means independence from it.