Agreed - there's something fishy here. It's not just that banks are making it hard to buy crypto with their cards, they are reclassifying a purchase as a "cash advance." At some level, banks are waking up to the fact that they are just expensive middlemen and are not really needed anymore. And, as you point out, they are fighting back with everything they have. Of course, they will tell us that they are "protecting" us and helping to ensure "stability of the financial system" and all that, but is that really the case? I think you nailed it here...