I woke up this morning to an unexpected charge on my (the irony) crypto.com card.

It's from Audible, which is by far the worst-run of all Amazon subsidiaries, and I got charged for my subscription... which I have no access to, because I've already cancelled.

Yet I got charged, and it's the second time this happened in a month.

Bear in mind, this is a VISA transaction, the fact that it just so happened to be related to a crypto.com card is just a coincidence.

Three days prior to that, another card, this one's a MASTERCARD, got a charge from a company called Trainline.

I was trying to buy a ticket, the transaction was confirmed but the ticket wasn't issued.

So what now? Well, I'm chasing crypto.com and the other card issuer to see if they can help, and in the meantime I'm chasing Audible and Trainline to see if I can get a refund.

This wouldn't have happened with cash. Yesterday I went for a beer with a friend. I gave the guy five euros, he gave me a pint in exchange. I repeated the process three times and not once did I face any issues.

It's actually the same with crypto.

We sometimes forget that one of the key issues that Satoshi was trying to resolve with Bitcoin was double-spending.

There's no in-between with crypto. I either sent BTC or I didn't. If I did, you'll get it. If you don't receive it, it means I didn't send it. That's it. No room for interpretation.

Cash is the same. And yet, banking is not like that. How many times have you had to email your bank or a merchant because your card was charged and you didn't know why? Or it was charged twice?

If the answer is 'NEVER', then you're extremely lucky. And you're also the exception.

Remember, crypto is our long overdue F-U to the banking system. Well deserved, might I add.