8am. I’m waiting for the subway. Unusual for me on a Sunday morning. I look around:people dressed for hiking, work, brunch, a day trip. Everyone different, all going somewhere.
And I think: statistically, someone here has probably committed a crime.
So what should the subway do? Refuse to start? Close the doors and say: ‘Sorry, you can’t get on’? Sounds ridiculous, right?
The subway’s job is to take people from A to B. It doesn’t judge, it doesn’t ask questions. it just takes you there. It’s neutral. It’s infrastructure.
And that’s exactly how money should work too. A payment system should move value, not judge the person moving it.
But lately, those who control access to money are also deciding who deserves to use it.
You said the wrong thing? account blocked. You made an uncomfortable choice? access denied.
In the physical world, it sounds absurd to imagine a subway deciding who can board. In the digital world, we accept it without a fight.
And the worst part? People who rely on these shortcuts are avoiding the real work.
investigating, enforcing justice, solving real crimes. It’s easier to freeze a card ‘for security reasons’ than to go after political corruption.
Of course, those who commit crimes should be stopped by the state, through investigations, through law, through process.
But we can’t ask infrastructure to pick the “good” and the “bad.” Once it starts doing that, it’s no longer safety. it’s control. And control never ends well.
It’s like if a train stopped working because the driver didn’t like where you were going. Or because you once posted a tweet he disagreed with.
Every time we ask for more control, more sanctions, more rules, we’re wishing (even without realizing it) for a world where a train stops because you posted a joke on Instagram.
And with things like Chat Control or the digital euro, it’ll only get worse: a system even more ‘efficient’ at judging, punishing, and deciding who’s allowed to move and who isn’t.
It sounds extreme, but maybe it should be our daily concern. Because if we hate injustice today, imagine not being able to have a bank account tomorrow because of one.
