- HSBC InvestDirect has apparently banned investors on its platform from buying shared in MicroStrategy due to its link with bitcoin
- In a message to a user, the bank called MicroStrategy a “virtual currency product”and said that further purchases were not allowed
- The FinCen Files leak in 2020 showed that HSBC allowed a British criminal gang to funnel money through the bank
HSBC InvestDirect has apparently banned investors from buying shares in MicroStrategy due to its Bitcoin position. In a tweet posted yesterday, Twitter user Klaus Lovgreen posted a message from the bank, presumably to him, that warns him that HSBC has amended its policy on virtual currencies and as a result will not allow the purchase of shares in companies that have anything to do with them. The bank doesn’t say why they have taken this step, but it is likely to be related to the lingering perception that cryptocurrencies are only used for illicit activity, which would be an incredibly hypocritical move considering the money laundering actions of HSBC as revealed in the FinCen Files leak last year.
#HSBC 👀
It was never your money… pic.twitter.com/HEETHxTTQt
— Klaus Lovgreen ⚡ (@KlausLovgreen) April 8, 2021
MicroStrategy Labeled a “Virtual Currency Product”
The HSBC message, sent on March 29, explains that HSBC has “changed its policy on virtual currencies…and products related or referencing the performance of virtual currencies.” The message further adds that, while it will graciously permit the holder to continue holding his MicroStrategy shares as well as selling them, it will not allow him to buy any more.
Amazingly, HSBC labels MicroStrategy a “virtual currency product” which is patently not true – this would also suggest that Tesla, Square, Ruffer Investment Company, Meitu, and more are also virtual currency products, which highlights the stupidity of such a classification.
HSBC Action Proves Bitcoin’s Use Case
If HSBC is concerned about the criminal links with Bitcoin, which research has shown are nowhere near the levels of prior years, then this is the most extreme case of a pot calling a kettle black that we have ever seen; the FinCen files leak in September 2020 showed that HSBC’s UK wing allowed a criminal gang to transfer millions of dollars through its accounts from a Ponzi scheme, even after it had identified their fraud.
The ban does nothing but highlight the power that centralized institutions have over what you think is your money and your investments, and simply reinforces the purpose behind Bitcoin in the first place.
