You don't challenge a system because the current version of it has made people dependent on it; you challenge it because it's rotten to the core. Small business gets crushed under the current system, not without it. I’d say it’s a credit to the small business that’s able to survive despite the moating and over-taxing. After running a small business for over 25 years I can tell you that it’s the system that made me rely on it. I’m not against loans and instruments; just against the state Narcan loans and money printing. The Cantillon Inequality - When the Fed inflates, credit doesn't flow to Main Street; it flows to Wall Street. The casino gets bailed out while the corner store gets priced out. Your local bakery can't conjure $500 million in a repo market. Regulatory Capture as Moat - The very "regulations" Democrats and Republicans fight about were written by incumbents to entrench the cartel. Small businesses don't have compliance departments. They can't lobby the Fed for favorable interest rates. What Replaces It? Free banking - Market "regulation" via competition and demand deposits backed by actual reserves. Market money - Gold worked for 5,000 years; Bitcoin works for the digital age with fixed supply (no Cantillon). Local credit unions and private clearing - Thriving for a century until the state criminalized them. The dirty secret - The only reason small business "needs" the current banking cartel is because the law requires you to use their product. Can't pay taxes in Bitcoin. Can't open a business account without a BSA compliance form. Can't set up competitive note-issuance without a charter from the very people you're competing with. So yes, in this system, without access to rigged credit, small business suffers. But that's an argument against central banking, not for it. You've confused addicted to a monopoly with needing a service. You can’t fix a broken system from within. And necessity within the current system isn’t adequate defense of it.