Absolutely seething! Spent most of this afternoon in the queue at my local branch of HSBC trying to open a Bitcoin account, only to be told they don't exist. At this point, I produced a clip of the Chancellor of the Exchequer saying they do, and the cashier looked at me the way you'd look at a man producing a clip of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Asked for the manager and made the mistake of saying the word Bitcoin a 2nd time, at which point my debit card was frozen for my own protection, and I was walked into a side room by a man from Compliance who wanted to know if anyone was coercing me, whether I'd met the seller in person, and if I understood that criminals mainly use this sort of thing. I said the Chancellor of the Exchequer has an account. He wrote that down and asked for a description. Not all a waste, though, as I left the branch with a leaflet on Premium Bonds and an HSBC Flexible Saver paying 1.35%, which the manager described as competitive without saying who with. Officially, inflation's at 3 and a bit, so I'm now guaranteed to lose money slowly, with FSCS protection, in an account that definitely exists. He said it's the responsible option. Which is roughly the national position. Other countries are building reserves of it whilst Britain seized 61,000 coins, panicked, and is now trying to flog them to fund £2 quid bus fares. The Chancellor thinks it lives in a savings account. The bank thinks it lives in a police station. And somewhere in Liverpool, a room full of people applauded a man for not knowing what money is, which, to be fair, is the only thing he's been consistent on. ✌️