Governments Desire Digital Currencies of their Own
They Can't Stand the Competition
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It’s no new revelation that governments want to track your every move and suck every possible drop of blood from their hosts (you). So naturally, they are all pushing for the end of cash and the implementation of digital, trackable currencies. You will no doubt hear the new acronym, CBDC, being regurgitated more and more out of the mouths of central banking authorities and political leaders. What does CBDC stand for?
It stands for Central Bank Digital Currencies.
As blockchain technology has gained widespread attention and accelerated use across the globe, governments have perked up. Blockchain technology has enabled the creation of digital money (e.g., Bitcoin) that is decentralized and under no control of any monetary authority. This is a central bank’s worst nightmare — no control. Governments hate competition. It exposes their inefficiency and waste, and threatens their whole premise of existence. So in an effort to get out in front of this movement towards decentralized digital money, they will push for their own — one they can control.
China has the digital Yuan. India, the e-Rupi. Nigeria to unveil the eNaira. Tajikistan is flirting with the creation of their own CBDC. The clever chums over in the UK are pushing the Britcoin. And the US is looking at the digital dollar.
I’m predicting that the US names its digital currency something like Freedom Funds or Liberty Loot — a name that aligns with the same spirit US politicians tend to name despotic legislation. In other words, the name will mean exactly the opposite of its conveyance (e.g., the PATRIOT Act)
Aside from Bitcoin and other digital money, good ol’ cash is also on the chopping block of central banks. Cash transactions are hard to track making it tough for taxing authorities to get their cut. Every transaction presents the government with the potential to skim a bit off the top. The legal term for this is defalcation. It’s illegal unless of course, you work for the taxing authority. In order for the authorities to skim off the top, they need to be aware of the transaction details or the involved individuals need to self-report the transaction upon tax day.
In the movie, Casino, Chicago mafia man, Sam "Ace" Rothstein (played by Robert De Niro), runs the Tangiers Casino and skims cash directly from the count room to increase profits, much to his mob bosses’ delight. The FBI eventually shuts down the whole operation, because, you see, the government doesn’t like it when they don’t get their skim.
With a digital currency managed by the State, well the possibilities for control are limitless. Every transaction will reveal the who, the what, and the where. Our credit/debit cards and cell phones already do this, so the populace already acquiesces to this level of tracking. But, the most troubling aspect of a centrally managed digital currency, aside from losing the option of using physical cash, is the potential for the government to control its use. In other words, a digital currency has the potential to be “turned off” for targeted individuals. It is not unforeseen that the government would assume this power. They will justify that it will be used against unsavory criminals, drug kingpins, human traffickers, the worst of the worst, etc. But once the power is granted, there is no stopping it from being used against the common folk.
We’ve already seen the government turn against those who don’t fall in line and dare defy arbitrary Covid rules and mandates. Vaccine mandates in the US are on the verge of coercing many out of the means to make a living. They’ve even successfully turned their own citizens against each other, deflecting anger and blame that should rightly be directed at political leaders. Chinese citizens already have a social credit system embedded within their daily lives. Liu Hu, a journalist in China, has been arrested and blacklisted for writing about censorship and government corruption. He was put on the List of Dishonest Persons Subject to Enforcement by the Supreme People's Court (yes, this is a real list) as "not qualified" to buy a plane ticket, travel some train lines, buy property, or take out a loan.
"There was no file, no police warrant, no official advance notification. They just cut me off from the things I was once entitled to … What's really scary is there's nothing you can do about it. You can report to no one. You are stuck in the middle of nowhere."
Linking a digital currency on-off switch to one’s social behavioral score is not that far out for the rest of the world.
The easiest way I see governments getting people to use their CBDCs is through welfare programs. Benefits may be paid out in CBDC. Those that have become dependant on the State will be prime targets, initially. This is how the e-Rupi works in India. e-Rupi vouchers are purpose-specific used mostly for health-related payments.
Agustin Carstens, General Manager of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), described the “benefits” of CBDCs back in October 2020 at an IMF virtual conference titled, Cross-Border Payments—A Vision for the Future:
“We don’t know, for example, who is using a $100 bill today. We don’t know who is using a $1,000 peso bill today. A key difference with a CBDC [as compared to cash] is the central bank will have absolute control on the rules and regulations that will determine the use of that expression of central bank liability. And also, we will have the technology to enforce that.”
Well, there you go. The friggin’ manager of the bank for the world’s central banks comes right out and says it. How much control will the people of the world willingly relinquish?
Below is a clip of the same referenced quote.
It is going to be dangerous if the govt is allowed to have there own crypto (CBDC) .. it will lead to total govt control and no privacy