Former PayPal CFO Roelof Botha has had his Bank of America account closed without warning or explanation.
The 46-year-old venture capitalist revealed his frustration on Twitter, writing: “After being a customer of Bank of America for 20 years, I received this notice today that they decided to fire me as their customer! With absolutely no explanation.”
Banks closing customers’ accounts has been commonly associated with cryptocurrency transactions over the past decade with the rising popularity of digital assets.
While it remains unclear why Botha’s account was suddenly closed, several respondents to the Twitter post questioned whether he had purchased any cryptocurrency.
He also received criticism from aggrieved PayPal users who had similar experiences with the payments processor.
After being a customer of @BankofAmerica for 20 years, I received this notice today that they decided to fire me as their customer! With absolutely no explanation…. pic.twitter.com/IJu3peiIWX
— Roelof Botha (@roelofbotha) November 18, 2019
“Same. PayPal closed my business account, and kept $5,000 for 6 months. No explanation, no one to discuss with,” wrote Twitter user Safoo Rydhan.
The closure of Botha’s account demonstrates yet another use case for cryptocurrencies and digital assets, as Bitcoin is impossible to seize if held on a hardware wallet like the Ledger or Trezor.
Bitcoin was spawned from a lack of trust in banks following the 2009 financial crash, and while mass adoption hasn’t yet come to fruition, examples like this could well prompt people to move away from banks and towards digital assets.
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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author should not be considered as financial advice. We do not give advice on financial products.