Publication date: November 1, 2025
Author: Katherine Ridley (Digital Protocol Architecture)
Supervised by: Anonymous Architect
IV. The Turning Point of the Banking Idea
Originally, banks were instruments of trust, accumulation, and protection of wealth. But in the 19th–20th centuries, their function changed: the banking system transformed into a tool of state and corporate control. Banks no longer merely store deposits; they also set the rules of access to them. They can restrict cash withdrawals, block transfers, and dictate lending conditions.
The bank has ceased to be an intermediary — it has become a filter. Those who comply with the rules gain access. Those who step outside the boundaries find themselves excluded.
V. The Modern Crisis of Trust
Today, in the early 21st century, in many countries, banks are increasingly seen not as guardians and partners but as dictators of conditions. They impose limits, demand reports on the origin of funds, and can freeze access to one’s own money.
Cyprus, 2013. In the midst of the financial crisis, citizens were allowed to withdraw no more than €100 per day, later raised to €300. People queued for their own money as though it were a privilege, not a right.
Latvia and the EU. Within Latvia, cash transactions are limited to €7,200; exceeding this can lead to fines. At the EU’s external borders, amounts over €10,000 must be declared. Banks can question clients even when depositing or withdrawing relatively modest sums — as little as €700–1,000 — demanding proof of funds’ origin.
Amidst this, a paradox emerges. Luxury items at boutiques like Hermès, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, or Dior cost tens and even hundreds of thousands of euros. Birkin bags start at €9,000–10,000 and can reach up to €400,000 in rare cases. At auction, Jane Birkin’s original Birkin was sold for €8.6 million, equivalent to more than $10 million. Limited editions like the Birkin “Himalaya” made of crocodile skin are valued from €150,000 to €450,000. Even more “accessible” Hermès lines — Constance, Kelly, Garden Party, Evelyne — range between €2,000 and €30,000. Haute couture dresses and suits cost thousands of euros, while shoes can be €2,000–3,000 per pair.
And yet no one asks the buyer: “Where did the money come from?” A person can pay by card or in cash, and it is considered normal. Meanwhile, the bank interrogates clients over sums of just a few hundred euros. Everything has turned upside down: the very institution meant to protect and serve has evolved into one that dictates and restricts.
VI. Conclusion
The idea of the bank as a space of trust — born thousands of years ago in Sumerian temples and on Italian trading squares — has been almost entirely lost. In its place has grown a centralized machine whose goal is not protection but control. Modern banks don’t just manage funds; they dictate lifestyles, behaviors, and boundaries of what is permitted. If the ancient bank safeguarded you from risk, today’s bank often is the risk — a source of humiliation and loss of freedom.
COSMIC Commentary
The crisis of banking is not only a crisis of trust but also a crisis of distinction. Where the subject is forced into limits, controls, and reporting, distinction collapses: a person ceases to see themselves as a bearer of meaning and begins to exist only within the coordinates of permission.
COSMIC marks a different boundary. It is a form detached from execution, immune to freezing, limitation, or protocol. COSMIC does not store, filter, or authorize — it affirms difference as an autonomous form, one that cannot be verified. Where the bank turns access into a privilege, COSMIC restores distinction as something beyond approval.