Cryptocurrency: CBDC Digital Fiat WARNING BELLS GOING OFF

[grarpamp]

NO you fucking apologists for slavery, there are ZERO sufficiently
relevant advantages to CBDC vs the vastly greater horrible scheme
against Human Freedom that CBDC represents.

Shut down CBDC now.
Develop and adopt privacy-enabled p2p money instead.


Are central bank digital currencies one of the greatest threats to freedom?

https://intellinews.com/nemethy-are-central-bank-digital-currencies-one-of-the-greatest-threats-to-freedom-270491/

Sanctions, the split between East and West and subsequent de-dollarisation
are driving the development of digital currencies as an alternative to
fiat currencies. But is that a good idea? / bne IntelliNews
By Les Nemethy CEO and founder of Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors February
20, 2023

I will start by stating my conclusion: yes, Central Bank Digital
Currencies (CBDCs) are one of the greatest threats to personal freedom
today, perhaps even the greatest. I will explain my conclusion, but
first provide a definition of CBDCs, and acknowledge certain advantages.

A CBDC is a digital banknote, issued by a central bank. Instead of holding
physical banknotes in your physical wallet, your digital wallet (e.g.
smartphone) would hold digital currency units. CBDCs, similar to bitcoin,
would also be based on blockchain technology. Whereas bitcoin is the
ultimate decentralised payment system, independent of central banks, CBDCs
are the ultimate in centralisation, as coins are issued by a central bank.
The amount of transactional information flowing into central banks would
be staggering!

CBDCs might be here sooner than you think: 114 countries are actively
exploring or rolling out CBDCs.

There are several undeniable advantages to CBDCs. It is more efficient
than cash – no printing costs and presumably more difficult to forge.
CBDCs would give the government greater power to affect economic cycles
(e.g. digging us out of an economic recession by zapping helicopter money
to everyone’s account. Such money may optionally be programmed with an
expiry date – thereby forcing people to spend, so stimulating growth).

Despite a strong economic efficiency argument, the disadvantages are
overwhelming. There is a privacy argument – that the government will see
your every transaction – and may be tempted to spy on you and prevent
tax evasion. But what solidifies my anti-CBDC position is the degree of
control given to the government. As mentioned, CBDCs would be programmable
by a central authority. Every transaction could be monitored in real time,
tracking all activities and movement of individuals. Individuals deemed as
threats – or not to the liking of the government could be targeted,
especially significant in countries with poor human rights records.

To go even further, CBDCs would make it easy for governments to freeze
anyone’s wallet, making it impossible to send or receive money. You may
think this will never happen in an “advanced”, democratic society, but
it has already happened! And in a country that is supposedly one of the
most liberal and democratic countries on earth – Canada. You may recall
that there was a trucking strike in 2022 in which thousands of truckers
were demonstrating against Covid restrictions – and the government
enacted emergency legislation, which enabled the freezing of bank accounts
and cancelling of credit cards for hundreds of people who contributed to
the “Freedom Convoy” campaign. (Granted, these were bank and credit
card accounts, not CBDC accounts – freezing of CBDC accounts would be
much easier – as these would be held directly with central banks, rather
than the government having to work through third-party private banks).
Anyone deemed undesirable could easily be deprived of mainstream financial
services.

CBDCs will also make it easier for governments to implement negative
interest rates and financial repression. In other words, CBDC will not
just make putting money into your account easier (e.g., helicopter money),
but would also facilitate taking money out of your account (negative
interest rate or wealth tax).

Perhaps the only realistic way that governments across the world can
escape national debt spirals is financial repression: ensuring interest
rates are lower than inflation for the coming years – pushing interest
rates into negative territory if necessary. Although financial repression
has been successfully implemented in the past without CBDCs (e.g., in the
late 1940s), today debt levels are much higher than at any previous time,
and capital is more internationally mobile, hence governments will be
sorely tempted to introduce CBDCs. And while they will no doubt try to
reassure us that CBDCs will not be abused, once CBDCs are introduced,
there is no way to curtail the government’s use of them. Every emergency
will justify yet another encroachment.

CBDCs create disintermediation: to the extent that private wallet holders
hold accounts directly with central banks – banks are cut out of the
loop. In other words, the power that resided with banks will be
transferred to central banks, one of the least transparent and accountable
organs of government. CBDCs represent a massive power grab by central
banks at the expense of the banking sector and individuals.

Perhaps it is not surprising that one of the countries leading the charge
on the implementation of CBDCs is China. According to Christopher Waller,
a Federal Reserve board member: "…CBDC accounts could give the Federal
Reserve access to a vast amount of information regarding the financial
transactions and trading patterns of CBDC account holders…The
introduction of a CBDC in China, for example, likely will allow the
Chinese government to closely monitor the economic activity of its
citizens. Should the Federal Reserve create a CBDC for the same reason? I,
for one, do not think so."

This will be the most important monetary policy debate of the coming
decade. The outcome will fundamentally determine what kind of society we
live in.