source: YouTube
The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System have published a paper called Money and Payments: The U.S. Dollar in the Age of Digital Transformation. The linked page ends with this paragraph:
To fully evaluate a potential CBDC, Money and Payments: The U.S. Dollar in the Age of Digital Transformation (PDF) asks for public comment on more than 20 questions. Comments will be accepted for 120 days and can be submitted here.
Now, isn't that nice; we're invited to give them feedback! As if they'd seriously consider said feedback... I don't know about you, but I seriously doubt it. Anyhow, the full PDF paper can be found right here if you wish to take advantage of the opportunity. I've read some of it (it's only 40 pages) and want to give some brief comments.
One of the most important traits of the CBDC is explained right at the start. Right now, Central Banks can not issue money directly to citizens; when they've created new money, they send it to commercial banks and let them decide what to do with it. And we know what can come from that strategy; we all remember the 2007 / 2008 financial meltdown, don't we? But to say that cutting out that particular middle-man solves anything at all is, in my opinion, unrealistic. It's not as if Central Banks, commercial banks, multinationals and governments haven't been on the same side in the class-war forever; we'd still be left with the same concentration of money and power.
While Americans have long held money predominantly in digital form—for example in bank accounts recorded as computer entries on commercial bank ledgers—a CBDC would differ from existing digital money available to the general public because a CBDC would be a liability of the Federal Reserve, not of a commercial bank.
But the real danger is in the fact that the CBDC will be programmable money that's not only issued directly to citizens, but gives them the tool to exercise direct power over those citizens. CBDCs will contain smart contracts just like any true decentralized cryptocurrency, and that opens up a whole armory of weapons to assault us and limit our freedom to do with our money as we choose. Of course, we're not exactly free to spend our money as we wish as things stand now, but that's mainly for perfectly logical and legal reasons. But a CBDC would potentially directly force us to change our spending behavior.
Imagine, for example, if they program some sort of expiration-date into the smart contract. They'd say that this is for the benefit of the economy, to maintain the "velocity of circulation of money." This would be in perfect accordance with the Central Banks' prime directives, as it is their duty to guard over the health of a nation's economy. That's fine and dandy, but I dread the day when we see an expiration-date next to our bank-balance. If a Universal Basic Income is decided upon for example, I bet such a provision would be included.
Or what about the ability to control interest rates on an individual basis? If you're acquainted with any sort of "credit score system," you already feel where this is going. Now imagine coupling that power to a social credit score scheme like the one in China; now your line of credit is coupled to your compliance to rules that have nothing to do with your ability to pay back debts. And all this is only what I can think of off the top of my head, and without even mentioning the power to completely cut you off from the economy.
If they decide to introduce a CBDC, they'd have the advantage of being able to forcibly do so, as opposed to real cryptocurrencies' humongous task to genuinely win the trust of the general public. Now, there are many valid reasons as to why the government's money has this trust, "FIAT" is from the Latin word for trust anyway, but these past decades Central Banks and governments have done very little to maintain that trust and very much to destroy it. And I don't trust them right now. All of us here in the cryptosphere don't trust them, that's why bitcoin was created in the first place. Paint me a conspiracy theorist if you wish, but I can't help but see things coming together very conveniently for the powers that be to come out with this news right now, when they've had years to study this CBDC possibility. And they have studied it, as mentioned in their paper "Money and Payments: The U.S. Dollar in the Age of Digital Transformation."
So be aware and vigilant, my crypto brothers and sisters. They say the CBDC will not be a replacement of, but an addition to existing FIAT money. They mention benefits, risks and challenges, but nothing like I've mentioned above, and why would they? Watch the below linked video to see what I mean, and hold on to your real cryptocurrencies; they're the only real protection we have against this madness...
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