Exactly 10 years ago, the Cyprus government announced that it would be seizing bank deposits in order to help finance a bailout of the country's troubled banking system. This news led to a surge in demand for Bitcoin in Cyprus and other countries triggeri

Here is a blast from the past that occurred exactly 10 years ago, on the 26th of March 2013.

The Cyprus government faced its worst Banking crisis in 2013 as a result of the constant unstability since the infmaous 2008 worldwide crash that triggered shock waves across the globe for many years. The Banking crisis of Cyprus was also a direct influence by the Greek debt crisis, which had led to significant losses for many Cypriot banks.

To help shore up the country's banking system, the European Union and International Monetary Fund agreed to a bailout package for Cyprus, although, one of the conditions of the bailout was that Cyprus would need to contribute a significant portion of the funds itself, through a "bail-in" program.

Under this program, the government would seize a portion of bank deposits over 100,000 euros in order to help finance the bailout.

This announcement of course caused widespread panic among the Cyprus population, who were worried about losing their savings. There were long lines at ATMs as people tried to withdraw their money, and many businesses and individuals began transferring their funds out of Cyprus and into other countries.

​

https://preview.redd.it/2yauqmybi1qa1.jpg?1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c8b05187bd861cffd2c38f63ee7529ea956ad7d1

More interestingly, at the same time there was a huge demand for Bitcoin in Cyprus together with other countries that were afraid of the same scenario. Many people wanted to protect their savings from a potential government seizure and allocate it somewhere where the government won't have the control. Back then, Bitcoin and its decentralization seemed like the perfect solution for many and was seen as a effective was to hold on the wealth without the risk of government intervention.

The effects of this were huge for Bitcoin. Within a couple of days, the price of Bitcoin surged x3 rising from $30 up to $90 and also triggering the famous bullrun of 2013 where Bitcoin reached and ended its year at a $754.01 price tag.

https://preview.redd.it/c4h8nzt2j1qa1.png?1706&format=png&auto=webp&s=3c8ada90cfcdb22201f915cfdc9d27970ba5b76d

It's very interesting that this happened on this exact time and date 10 years ago, as we are witnessing a similar crisis that goes way beyond in scale in scope compared to Cyprus. With the recent crashes of regional banks in the US and the downfall of Credit Suisse and potentially Deutsche Bank.

The power of decentralized finance and Bitcoin was discovered way before it hit "real" mainstream as we have it today and that the crash of the Banks is actually the most bullish case for Bitcoin and many other cryptocurrencies in the DeFi space.

Wanted to share this interesting story that basically triggered the surge and bullrun of Bitcoin in 2013. Now, 10 years later, we might see a similar case, just with a much larger scale and impact.