# Banks: insolvencies, confiscation, and censorship

For our money to move freely we have to trust that our banks will act in our best interest. We have to trust that they maintain good financial hygiene and security practices to prevent loss of our funds. We have to trust that they will allow us to access our money whenever we wish, and that they allow us to transact money with other individuals and organizations of our choice. By virtue of regulation and ultimately military control, this trust extends to the government that oversees these banks.

Whether it is banks inadequately managing their risk and losing customer deposits, or banks coercing with governments to censor financial transactions or outright confiscate funds, there are unfortunately many examples throughout history and across the world of millions of individuals directly impacted and harmed by these breaches of trust.

What follows is a cascade of articles and videos underlining the reality of these trust issues, and most of them are from recent history. I have opted to include many different events because I am aware of how easy it is to dismiss the aforementioned concerns as improbable and merely theoretical. I hope these articles and resources can put some real-life context to this discussion.


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://btcjourney.gitbook.io/start/trust-problems-with-our-money/banks-insolvencies-confiscation-and-censorship.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.