Protections against banking fraud in the U.S. have never been able to keep pace with criminals.
The reason why has its roots in the start of the national banking system proposed by Abraham Lincoln and created by Congress in 1863.
Until the mid-Civil War, the U.S. didn’t have its own federal currency. Banks were free to create their own paper money, subject only to state law, which varied dramatically. One-third of all paper money circulating before the Civil War was likely counterfeit, resulting in currency mayhem.
