Sorry, you have no access to your money.
There has never been a time where it's been so easy to tell someone (let alone an entire populous at once), "sorry, you have no access to your money right now." The reason it's so simple now is no one physically stores their money by themselves anymore. It's always with a trusted third party.
The online banking system was off for several weekends at RBC this year. Two weekends ago, online RBC was entirely down for certain investment vehicles Saturday and Sunday night, 12 am - 6 am PST. ATMs were inoperable for 6 hours too.
What if your family member had a medical emergency and you don't have healthcare? You would have to ask them to wait until the following day to get the cash.
So why does this happen? It happens because retail banks are inefficient. We have the internet, and we do not need real people to store pieces of paper for us inside an actual building that pays for rent anymore. If this was the case, at least ensure the clients have a better experience than using an online currency, but this isn't even the case. It's much worse.
One RBC near me in Vancouver has been closed for over three years; there is a pile of envelopes inside the building that everyone looks at as they use the ATM. There is even a late rent notice on the door.
They are burning that money in every sense of the word—your taxpayer dollars. We have to pay rent. Why does RBC get to rent an entire building without paying rent? About 50 homeless people could live in it, but it's just accumulating rental notices.
