Banks Are Worse Than Bitcoin, But What Is Worse Than Banks?

The answer is those services that are in between. Where you do not have the ease of contacting your regulated bank that has to follow lots of rules but still do not have your own keys and full access/responsibility yourself.

If i lose my keys, forget my back up etc its my fault.

If my bank messes up , i have an endless list of people who i can get involved, i can contact my bank 24/7 and finally i can turn up at a branch and perform some form of sit in. Banks are not perfect, but there is options.

My biggest problem, is the companies that operate in-between. In that grey area. They're not banks, not really financial institutions but they still end up controlling your money and when it goes wrong you have no one to turn to other than them. Its not your fault like misplaced keys and yet you cant take the actions that you can against an established "Brick an Mortar" bank. 

About 3 years ago, i had an issue with one of these companies, that will remain nameless. They provide cross country payments, cheap and easy... Not so easy it turned out. Using my regular bank, i was looking at an awful exchange rate as well as some seriously big fees. Bitcoins network at the time was taking running very very slow and the fees where pretty substantial, so, needing to move this money across the seas quickly, i went with the "Grey Area" company. To cut a very long story short, the fees where reasonable and the exchange rate was good but after 2 weeks and several emails my money was out of my account and not with the receiver. In those 2 weeks i felt so incredibly frustrated and helpless. What more could i do than email constantly and try and connect on a live chat service between certain hours? It was a horribly stressful experience and not one i would wish on anyone. Safe to say i don't use these services anymore and i warn others of them too. Same goes for exchanges, use them to buy or sell but get your coins or money off them ASAP! You have no control over it.

Even with this experience well and truly burnt into my brain today as i write this i find myself in the situation again, only this time it is much, much worse.

3 years ago, my friend was waiting on a few hundred dollars, it was awkward and stressful but it wasn't world ending.

Today however its not 2 weeks, its 2 months. Its not a few hundred dollars, its a few thousand. Its not my friend who is waiting, its me and the icing on the cake is that i don't think it will resolve anytime soon. The company will remain nameless again, but its been around a while and you use it on internet auctions. You can get there i'm sure. 

They have my money, i have no one to help me. I am relying on them and as you can imagine its not going very well. I find myself yet again at the mercy of "Live Chat" opening hours. I have had several of these, each with a different "agent" who seems incapable of reading the previous conversations and needs me to explain my situation again, only to disappear and be replaced by another agent, the cycle continues over and over. Emails go unanswered and my money is sat, locked away from me. What can i do? Beg? Threaten? Plead? I have pretty much tried them all and still it remains, 2 months and counting. No solution in sight. 

If you have ever experienced anything like this you will completely understand where i am coming from and how i am feeling right now.

If you have not experienced a situation like this i can honestly say i am glad for you and i truly hope you never will.

Banks have many faults but there are solutions

Crypto has many hazards but there is personal responsibility

These grey area, middlemen seem to be able to do all the bad things a bank can do with none of the accountability. You are at their mercy. 

Thats why, i cannot stress enough, have your own keys, take the time to learn it, ask for help, but dont leave your money with these middlemen.  

"Not your keys, not your coins"

Research it, learn from it.

If you do feel compelled to help me out of this enormous hole i find myself in, please feel free to send tot he below, anything would be greatly appreciated! Other wallet addresses available for BCH,XRP etc  

BTC:1Krk4pm2R5Q5D7ZhVgaAuBZgiUiS191fKy

ETH:0x1286D25a956A4c48606FDEF17ca46feE4EaAA2D7