1. You yourself have said that the so-called purpose of crypto is to bypass the banks. That being said do you really expect them to assist you in doing that? If one of your clients took a quote from you and purchased directly from your hardware vendors instead of you would you not fire them?
Absolutely. I think we fully expected banks to attempt to hinder and discredit cryptocurrencies in any way they could. It's just amusing to see it play out, especially since their actions help to further demonstrate how we've lost control of our money, purchasing choices and (more importantly) privacy to the banks. But the more they try to stop the approaching tsunami, the bigger they're making it.
And I think a more accurate analogy of what the banks are doing would be if you or I were to attempt to prevent our clients from using a competitor by blocking their access to the competitor's website and phone number, then attempting to convince our clients that the competitor is a crook (even though we know little about him accept that he is cheaper and does a much better job).
2. Most of those articles mention criminal activity as the reason for dropping the accounts. I know you think that it is a lame excuse but you also know that many people launder money with crypto. Hello, ransomware! Banks by law have to take some actions against such accounts and no they are not going to tell you that the FBI and Secret Service are tracing your accounts.
Money laundering is an interesting term. In its most basic definition it's simply a tax avoidance technique; a way of hiding the origin of income. Governments like to use the term
money laundering because it allows them to tar everyone with the same brush who dare to fail to pay all of their due taxes, from the man who does a few 'cash jobs' to make a bit of extra income, to criminals, drug dealers and (not forgetting) terrorists. The reality is that where's there's money there will be crime and tax avoidance/evasion. And, as far as Bitcoin is concerned at least, it's much less anonymous than cash, precious metals or gemstones. Dollars and other fiat currencies are far better suited to money laundering and are used on a scale several orders of magnitude greater than any cryptocurrency. And the biggest money launders in the world of course are the banks themselves (except they can do it legally because they have a 'licence to launder').
Personally I think the way forward is a tax system based purely on purchases, especially luxury items. Income tax should be abolished. Your wealth and what you earn should be private information, not shared with the banks, government (and anyone who wishes to see it when those institutions ultimately allow that information to become compromised). Taxing income is archaic, and the heavy-handed tactics used by governments to enforce/collect it is little removed from those employed by rulers in the dark ages. While it's probably unlikely you'll be hung, drawn and quartered for tax evasion these days (except maybe in some parts of the middle east?), in most countries it's the only debt you can still be imprisoned for failing to pay. We have come to accept that as normal because our governments have convinced us that tax evasion is a heinous crime. Don't get me wrong, taxation is an essential part of our civilised society but it should be primarily collected through purchases, with greater tax on luxury items. The more you spend, the more you pay. Simple taxation without compromising privacy.
