[MichaelBurge]

Does the 'financial industry' include loans, insurance, and stock brokers? Or - this being compared to Bitcoin - are you strictly speaking about 8% of the economy being devoted to maintaining point-to-point transfers of money using credit cards, checks, or wire transfers?

In practice ACH transfers within the United States are free and clear within a few days(giving you time to catch fraud). There's also very little technical barrier to transferring money abroad, although there is risk to the bank.

Credit cards are a different matter. They have to clear instantly so the merchant is guaranteed payment(excepting a chargeback). Bitcoin (usually) clears in an hour, or at least 10 minutes, so it's unsuitable for realtime financial transactions unless you build a financial industry on top of it to mitigate risk.