I delivered a small presentation to a local public college and I mentioned bitcoin on a few occasions (critically, mind you). There was also manager of a local branch from a regional cooperative bank delivering speaking after me and consequently also attending the event.
After the event he rushed to speak to me in person and had a ton of questions about bitcoin. It became obvious to me that this person had been made aware of the euphoria but wasn't very much tech averse. (What else are we to expect from someone enthusiastic about bitcoin in 2019 anyway?) The issue to me though was that he appeared as euphoric as a man in a suit can be, and yet wasn't even well versed with banking terminology that I tried to use to introduce crypto terms to him. Trying to be impartial when talking about bitcoin was a hard task nevertheless.
To be honest I wasn't very enthusiastic speaking to him as that coop bank is strife with 'institutionalized' corruption. Not technically breaking the law but they are facing lawsuits for false advertising after releasing a non-insured product with way-above average performance that ended up failing in its first year and converting a ton of money into stock for the bank, and they're dragging those cases to waste the most time possible. The stock price sunk to 10% of it's initial value after the execs that are now in power had earned the trust of locals by drying reserves to showcase supposedly great returns. After burning deep holes in the pockets of people in the area by locking their funds in (now useless stocks), those execs now have nothing to give back other than keeping the bank barely functional.
While I was about to leave him I asked about how his branch was doing and he said it had the lowest deposits among all and it was likely to close, with some staff transfered and others fired. I thought to myself, nice exit strategy guy, introducing bitcoin to a barely solvent financial institution would be an excellent way to usher yourself higher in executive positions after being transfered from your failing branch (all while shortening the lifeline of the bank overall).
Funnily enough, now the coop bank from the neighboring town that was always much more conservative in management is flourishing although it used to be a huge rival and didn't seem as promising when the local one was inflating dividends. Highlight of my day was when the CEO of that rival neighboring town coop bank made a surprise appearance in the event and noticed me spending all that time to talk with the local bank guy. That CEO, rocking a huge smirk on his face while coming towards me, passed besides me and said: "I hope those guys aren't going to try and become a bitcoin bank, ey?", before leaving. I'm sure his sole intent was to be snarky because he was clearly indifferent on whether or not I even replied. Not surprising, given that the answer would have involve bitcoin anyway and he is representing a serious institution.
TL;DR: was showered with crypto-induced euphoria from puny branch manager from corrupt coop bank, CEO of rival non-puny bank knows what's up.
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