Yellow Vests Movement Pushing For A Bank Run

Leaders of the french Gilets Jaunes/Yellow Vests protest movement are encouraging supporters to begin a run on the banks this weekend by withdrawing everything from their accounts. This “Collectors’ Referendum” threat to the French financial system is considered by the yellow vests to be a peaceful way to force the government to pass their reforms.

“If the banks weaken, the state weakens immediately,” said Yellow Vest Tahz San on Facebook. “It’s elected officials' worst nightmare.”

“We are going to get our bread back…you’re making money with our dough, and we’re fed up,” said protester Maxime Nicolle in a video message shared on YouTube. 

This bank run has the potential to bring the French banking system and the Euro to its knees, as banks always hold only a fraction of the funds the country’s citizens have in their accounts (the alchemy of the banking cartels). Most banks limit ATM withdrawals to a few hundred dollars so protesters would have to line up inside the banks to withdraw the entirerty of their money, which would give the state time to place restrictions on withdrawals.

Those in Bitcoin circles will be drawing parallels between the Referendum and last week’s Proof of Keys event organized by a sole investor, entrepreneur Trace Mayer.

Timed to coincide with the tenth anniversary of the Bitcoin genesis block, Proof of Keys aimed to galvanize Bitcoin users to remove all coins stored with trusted third parties and take back control of their private keys.

This move is in retaliation of the proposed crackdown on “unauthorized protests,” announced earlier this week after a particularly violent weekend of clashes with police. The government is proposing an 80,000 person security forces will be deployed for the next protest.

The government is urging the protesters to make their voices heard in a national debate instead of demonstrating in the streets as they have done for the last two months. The debate, scheduled for next week, will cover climate change, “democratic issues,” taxes and public services.