Cyprus ten year anniversary. *Milk Road email

It’s that time of the week… Throwback Thursday. The day we reminisce on the simple times, when our biggest worry was staying on our friends' Top 8 on Myspace.

Today’s TBT: The Cyprus Banking Crisis and Bitcoin's Big Rally. Gather ‘round kids, this one’s a doozy. Here’s the story in 3 parts:

PART 1: THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM. First, let me set the scene for you:

old man voice:... The year was 2013, on a small Mediterranean island called Cyprus…

At the time, the island was known for one thing: lax taxes. This made Cyprus a tax haven for rich (and sketchy) people, which raked in billions of dollars in bank deposits.

As a result, the banks on this tiny island got HUGE. They held 8x as many assets as the entire country's GDP. The banks became like that short guy at the gym that bench presses 300 lbs - tiny but mighty.

But there was a massive storm brewing in Cyprus:

The economy was in a recession and still recovering from the '08 financial crisis. Big banks lost A LOT of money. They lent billions to Greece (whose economy was also nosediving), and then tried placing a double-or-nothing bet by buying up Greek government bonds in hopes of a bailout. They took an L & lost everything. Suddenly Cyprus banks were in a lot of trouble. And because they controlled (and lost) more money than the entire country’s GDP, they went from too big to fail → too big to save.

PART 2: THE SH*TSTORM

Pop quiz: What do you do when you’re broke and owe a lot of money? Call your rich uncle.

Which is exactly what Cyprus did. They called up their rich uncle (AKA the European Union) and asked for a $17B bailout.

But here’s the thing: sometimes your rich uncle wants to teach you a lesson. And the European Union wasn’t super happy about the price tag.

So they made a deal… The EU would give $10B, but Cyprus would have to come up with the rest on its own.

How? By taking money from its own depositors.

In March 2013, Cyprus announced its two biggest banks would shut down and all deposits over $100K would be seized, with a large portion being used for the bailout.

It sent shockwaves throughout the island. But wait, it gets crazier…

In order to stop a bank run, the Cyprus government declared a national bank holiday and closed all the banks so people couldn’t withdraw any money. (Note to self: if we ever want a new holiday, just threaten a massive bank run.)

Then when the banks opened back up, the Cyprus government placed restrictions on how much money people could withdraw (sometimes as low as $128 per day).

It was a living nightmare for the Cypriots that included longer lines than a new iPhone release…

But this was also a wake-up call for a lot of people. They could no longer fully trust the governments and big banks. They needed to find an alternative…

PART 3: THE RISE OF BITCOIN

Today, Bitcoin is the king of crypto. Companies own it. Hedge funds own it. Countries own it. Even my mom owns it.

In 2013, Bitcoin was still just “magic internet money”. It was mainly super nerds and sketchy drug dealers that owned it.

Until….the Cypriots got in on the action. With banks collapsing and people losing trust in the system, people looked to Bitcoin as an alternative asset for the first time ever.

BTC jumped 600% and was followed by the famous Bullrun of 2013 and BTC ended the year at ~$750. THE LESSONS: 10 years later there are still some big takeaways from the Cyprus Baking Seizures:

Banks can always collapse. 10 years ago it was Cyprus Banks. Today it's SVB, Credit Suisse, and Deutsche Bank. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. We've seen time after time that trusting a single bank with all your money is a bad idea. Don't do it. You gotta spread your bread around. Diversify your assets. Put some money in gold, Bitcoin, Pokemon cards, whatever you want - just make sure to always have a backup plan in case sh*t hits the fan.