The world won’t be decentralized. The fact of the matter is for large portions of our economy centralization is necessary. There’s core information (who owns what) that MUST be processed centrally or the whole system falls apart.
They don’t need to control anything. They just need some of the stuff being traded. That’s all banks do, collect stuff that’s trade, and distribute stuff that’s traded. Banks will (and probably already do) buy and sell cryptos in the exact same way they buy and sell stocks and bonds and real estate and every other thing people trade. In the end that’s all crypto currency is, something to be bought and sold. Banks buy and sell currency all the time. From a banks position there’s no difference between buying Marks to sell later for more and buying Bitcoins to sell later for more.
Bank doesn’t need to insert itself as the middleman. Banks don’t make money on being the middleman, they make money on hoarding and distributing. Your example is no different than any other pure cash transaction, banks aren’t afraid of that either.
Do Susan and Eric want to use their crypto as a provable asset to help them buy a home? Or any other large asset that will involve a long term loan and review of their credit history? Gotta have money in the bank to prove you have money.
Nope, banks are just adding another bunch of currency that they’re trading. Over all it changes nothing for them.
You missed one very important thing they can do in this crypto currency world:
Make and issue their own money
https://coinmarketcap.com/all/views/all/
There’s over 1500 crypto currencies on the market today. Most of which are NOT minable, meaning the creator gets to decide who gets the first issuance. And we don’t know who created the vast majority of them. ANYBODY can make a crypto currency. You, me, Kodak. If you don’t think every single major bank anonymously has a currency on that last you’re dumb as a post.
Sure the banks can create and control (to some extent) a CC. But they have to meet my criteria for value (see my previous post) like better permanence, better aesthetics, etc in the open market of CCs just like you, me and everyone else. We are all equal players, a truly level playing field.