In a 2010 Bitcointalk Forum post, Hal Finney, Cypherpunk, who has been involved in Bitcoin since day one, explained how he saw the emergence of future Bitcoin banks. He believed that peer-to-peer Bitcoin transactions were rare. Instead, people use better scale digital cash issued by Bitcoin Support Bank.
table of contents
What was Hal Finney like, and what did he write about Bitcoin Bank?
Finney is a veteran of the Cypherpunk community and is working on a variety of solutions that will help you maintain your online privacy. For years, Finney worked for PGP Corporation. He was the creator of the first reusable proof system, and he was the first person to receive a BTC transaction from anyone other than Nakamoto Atoshi. It's no wonder he was an influential figure in the Bitcoin community. He passed away in 2014 at the age of 58.
In December 2010, Bitcointalk users with Wobber handles began debating how Bitcoin Bank works. Some suggested that such banks could safely store their clients' Bitcoin, charge fees, or give loans to Bitcoin, but others were skeptical and viewed the idea as unworthy. One user mentioned Ripple as an already existing example.
Hal Finney took part in the discussion. He wrote that Bitcoin-backed banks have good reasons to exist. He had seen Bitcoin Bank as an organization that issues digital cash that can be removed to resolve transactions. Finney noted that Bitcoin is not an efficient way to exchange, so the secondary tier payment system solves this problem.
In another post, he explained that people can see some confirmations as bulk purchases in Bitcoin require more time. Finney saw the bank-issued Bitcoin-backed digital currency as a way to avoid this inconvenience.
According to Finney, Bitcoin is used by banks to resolve net transfers between each other, and individuals use other digital money for regular transactions. Finney said banks can have a variety of policies, currencies, interest rates and more. He mentioned George Sergin's findings on free banking as a reference to Bitcoin Bank, saying these banks are self-regulated, stable and inflation-resistant.
read more: Who is Hal Finney and did he create Bitcoin?
Was he talking about Bitcoin's Treasury?
On June 22, 2025, Joe Burnett, Bitcoin Strategy CEO of Semler, released a screenshot of a Finney post, saying, “Hal Finney foresaw the rise of the Bitcoin Treasury company.”
Hal Finney foresees the rise of Bitcoin finance companies. pic.twitter.com/fa0j39wcss
– Joe Burnett, MSBA (@iicapital) June 22nd,
George Sergin, mentioned in Finney's post on Bitcoin Bank, noted that Burnett is wrong in Finney's talk of something similar to Bitcoin's Treasury. He wrote:
“Barnett doesn't seem to know the difference between a bank and a finance company. It's two completely different things. What Finney was thinking is a competitive system of Bitcoin-based banks, whose IOUs serve as a second-tier payment media.”
It's fair to say that Finney's vision is very different from Bitcoin Treasury Companies. Treasuries issue stocks that are affected by Bitcoin but are not supported by it. More than that, these stocks are not used to buy anything. The Treasury (for example, Strategy) often issues debts to buy more Bitcoin, hoping that long-term price increases in Bitcoin will pay off debt or at least surpass stock prices.
The free banks mentioned by Finney assume the existence of private currency issued by the bank. Such banks existed in several countries in the 19th century. But by the 1950s they were gone.
Do Bitcoin banks exist today?
The banks described by Hal Finney do not exist today. However, he was not completely wrong about Bitcoin-backed banks. While some banks have a Bitcoin banking element, the crypto community employs stubcoin, which serves as a convenient means of payment and saving.
For example, some banks create a Ministry of Finance to accumulate Bitcoin. They do that to hedge against the decline of Fiat Money and believe that Bitcoin reserves can boost their holdings. One of the banks that recently began accumulating Bitcoin is Solar Bank.
The idea of two-tier digital payment systems and multiple digital currencies is fully realized in the form of the Altcoin market. In this regard, Finney was closer to what we know today, as many cryptocurrencies have cheap and fast transactions. However, only a few of them have been issued by the bank. Mainly, it's a stub coin. Central banks in several countries are working on CBDCs, but not Bitcoin collateral.
The Defi platform may provide some of its banking services in a decentralized way. For example, you can lend or borrow crypto there or keep it in exchange for yields. However, these cryptocurrencies cannot be redeemed at a fixed Bitcoin price. Such phenomena, like Neobanks, are a kind of platform that provides services like banks and enables cryptographic operations.
Certainly, there is no reason for Bitcoin banks to emerge until Bitcoin is much more widely used as a payment tool.
-George Selgin (@GeorgesElgin) June 23, 2025
Sergin argued that he doesn't think Bitcoin banks will soon emerge because they have no profit “in offering alternatives to relatively unpopular exchanges.” However, Selgin has not rejected the possibility of future Bitcoin banks' emergence.
You might like it too: Tough Mountain Climbing: Neobanks can democratize access to defi products | Opinion
