cryptodaily.co.uk
With 105 countries now investigating the potential implementation of a CBDC as their preferred form of currency, it is looking increasingly likely that the attempt will be made to make these digital units of currency the new way of transacting. Does the population have any idea what this can lead to?
Global wealth transfer
As all fiat currencies continue in their race to the bottom, with ever-increasing amounts of them being injected into the economy at the whim of academics based at the central banks, the wealth of the middle class is being sucked out and transferred to the hands of the elite few.
As for those at the lowest end of the scale, during the Covid pandemic, 100 million of them sank into extreme poverty, at the same time as the steepest increase in billionaires on record was taking place. All according to the World Inequality Report published this year.
CBDCs to replace existing currencies
So how are we going to accept CBDCs if fiat currencies are continuing to fail? They are just another form of the same thing right?
In a way, yes. Central Bank Digital Currencies will be foisted onto the public as a digital form of the dollar, pound, yen, yuan etc. They will just take over from physical cash, and also from the current digital forms of currency on mobile phones and credit cards etc.
However, there is one incredibly important difference in the CBDC form of digital payments as compared with existing digital currencies. CBDCs will be programmable.
For central government this is perhaps wonderful news. For many decades central banks have used the incredibly blunt tool of interest rates, and more recently quantitative tightening and easing, in order to try and tame inflation.
Nevertheless, as history tells us, the central banks are either too early or too late to raise or lower rates and they are almost certainly the cause of the boom and busts that world economies have experienced over the years.
The shocking truth
A CBDC provides the central bank with a direct line between its wallet, and the individual wallets of every citizen. Therefore it can manipulate the economy even down to the micro level.
So why is this a bad thing?
The technology can allow the central bank to decide what citizens spend their money on. It can put a time-limit on how long the individual has to make a purchase, before the money disappears. And in the worst case scenario, the bank can even turn off the wallets of certain individuals or groups if it is deemed that they are not acting in the interests of the State.
Freedom with bitcoin
Bitcoin is the complete opposite to the centralised control of the banks, and it allows all who purchase it to own their money, spend it how they wish, and transact with whom they choose.
It comes down to a titanic struggle between completely centralised power in the hands of a few individuals, and the decentralised choices that owning bitcoin can provide to everyone.
The mainstream media is in the hands of the central planners, and so the public is likely to be blissfully unaware of what is coming. It is therefore hoped that bitcoin can do its thing and prove that a completely decentralised asset is a far better bet than one manipulated by human hands.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.