One more reason the Thiel mannequin merely is senseless for retail finance is that it’s structurally not possible to construct the form of “moat” that may, on the very least, preserve a crappy enterprise like Uber limping alongside. An enormous component of finance, actually for retail depositors but in addition extra typically, is that you really want your deposits to be as liquid as doable. To draw deposits within the first place, clients have to be satisfied it is going to be straightforward to withdraw … and doubtlessly deposit their cash elsewhere. This makes banking a basically very, very powerful enterprise to monopolize in even a slightly free market.