Tag: CBDC

The Mandating of Digital IDs and CBDCs

As technology continues to deliver information at the tap of a screen, there appears to be increasing pressure from various governmental institutions to design and implement a uniform method of digital identification as well as the utilization of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

Governmental agencies, financial establishments, business enterprises, and the like often tout these supposed innovations as tools of efficiency and security.

However, beneath the virtual veneer lies a frightening reality.

Digital IDs and CBDCs pose a grave threat to personal privacy, economic autonomy, and individual freedom.

Case in point: Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Keir Starmer recently announced a plan to implement a national compulsory digital ID.

“You will not be able to work in the United Kingdom if you do not have digital ID. It’s as simple as that,” the prime minister and leader of the Labour Party stated.

The mandatory digital IDs are set to be fully rolled out by August 2029.

Interestingly, over 2.4 million Brits have already signed a petition on the UK Parliament’s website, voicing their opposition to the digital ID policy.

Wise on the part of these Brits. The digital IDs actually tie an individual’s identity to a government or corporate-managed database.

So what effect would this have?

Well, first of all the technology provides governmental agencies with unprecedented monitoring capabilities. Additionally, with the assistance of AI, the technology also allows every single transaction, movement, and interaction to be tracked, stored, and analyzed.

Centralizing this type of personal data (including names, addresses, biometrics, and transaction histories) into a single digital profile causes 1984’s “Big Brother” to become a reality.

Digital IDs will be required for day-to-day activities, such as shopping, banking, or even browsing the web. Data that are collected will create a digital footprint on each individual, which can be monitored, analyzed, and even weaponized, allowing government noses to be poked into every facet of a person’s life.

China is already using digital IDs to monitor citizens and assign social credit scores, leading to the restriction of access to services and/or travel for those individuals deemed non-compliant.

In 2023, reports emerged indicating that Chinese citizens were being denied train tickets as a result of low social credit scores, a foreboding preview of the way digital ID technology can be weaponized to force compliance with government mandates.

History illustrates that centralized data systems can be manipulated to punish dissent or enforce conformity.

Digital IDs that are capable of monitoring every aspect of human life are destined to become instruments of tyrannical control. When combined with CBDCs, the digital trajectory becomes supercharged.

The reality is CBDCs are fully traceable and programmable. Central banks will have the ability to dictate how, when, and where each individual’s money can be spent.

Currency itself will exist in a digital wallet, and purchases will be restricted based on the whims of government central planners.

The Bank of England and the Federal Reserve have discussed the embedding of programmable features within CBDCs, including alignment with state-approved priorities and assignment of expiration dates.

A 2021 Bank of International Settlements paper revealed that 86% of central banks are exploring CBDCs, with many designed to include such heavy-handed programmable features.

This means that purchases could be limited to government-approved goods and services. It also means the money of individuals could literally be turned off or rendered valueless at the direction of government.

The fact of the matter is digital IDs and CBDCs work together to concentrate unprecedented control in the hands of governments and technocrats. For those so inclined, the temptation to amass power is overwhelming.

During Canada’s 2022 trucker protests, bank accounts were frozen without due process, an ominous preview of what programmable currencies may potentially facilitate.

Anyone who truly values personal liberty needs to think long and hard about surrendering personal privacy and economic independence to systems that, once implemented, are nearly impossible to dismantle.

The risks about which our forbears warned, particularly with regard to the loss of economic sovereignty and self-determination, need to be examined in liberty’s light.

May the unceasing pursuit of freedom define our future path.

The Dangers of a Digitally Controlled Dollar

There’s a trend going on in the U.S., and for that matter in the whole wide world.

It’s one that people for the most part, both here and abroad, haven’t had the time or inclination of late to focus their energies on.

The trend is toward a completely cashless society.

There is good reason to be afraid. The timeline for its arrival is on an accelerated trajectory.

Recently in our own country, the Biden administration moved America closer to the death knell of physical money by its exploration and potential implementation of a government-created digital currency.

Ever since the advent of cryptocurrencies, government officials around the globe have longed to get in on the digital money action.

The best known crypto is Bitcoin, which was created in 2009 by a software engineer who used the name Satoshi Nakamoto. Numerous other digital coins followed, including the second-most popular, Ethereum.

The exchange of cryptos occurs on decentralized computer networks and takes place between individuals who use their virtual accounts.

Cryptocurrencies are shared on tamper-proof records known as “blockchains.”

As most folks are aware, computers and devices hold gobs of information in the form of data. A blockchain provides a specialized manner in which to hold data. It records information in a way that prohibits hacking or alteration.

Blockchain data are not contained within a central server, but instead are shared across a vast network of computer systems.

The Biden administration is pursuing something called a central bank digital currency (CBDC), also sometimes referred to as the “digital dollar.”

In March 2022 an executive order was issued, calling on federal agencies to research a number of topics that include the pros and cons of the digital dollar.

The Treasury, Justice Department, Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, Securities and Exchange Commission as well as other agencies were asked to contribute to the reports.

After the agencies came up with their reports, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen publicly cited a Treasury Department recommendation that the United States “advance policy and technical work on a potential central bank digital currency, or CBDC, so that the United States is prepared if CBDC is determined to be in the national interest.”

On the current necessity for digital dollars, Yellen explained, “Right now, some aspects of our current payment system are too slow or too expensive.”

So here we are on our way to a world in which everyday money will be held in the form of CBDCs.

According to the nonpartisan think tank Atlantic Council, 105 countries, representing more than 95 percent of global gross domestic product, are currently in the process or have already created a CBDC.

With regard to the inherent dangers of these developments, there is a whole lot to be concerned about.

CBDCs are very different from cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin are private and untraceable. CBDCs are controlled by government.

Not only are CBDCs able to collect personally identifiable financial information and track the transactions of each and every individual, they are also programmable.

Programmable digital currency gives government leaders something they have never had before – the ability to limit or even stop altogether the purchases of all persons engaged in the digital currency’s use.

Money spent on things that for whatever reasons are deemed by government as “inappropriate” could be restricted, or said purchases could be totally halted.

How could a plan such as this be implemented? With the flick of a virtual switch.

Programmable currency has the capacity to have a built-in off switch. The government powers that be could then de-activate such digital currency and render it worthless, if they so choose.

Additionally, use of CBDCs would enable all shopping records to be stored in government databanks. Records could then be evaluated and measured against government created standards.

The stored data on purchases could also be used to establish a social credit system much like the one already in place in China.

Thankfully, some lawmakers on Capitol Hill are paying attention to the issue and have submitted various pieces of legislation regarding cryptocurrency and other digital assets.

One championed by Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, a member of the Senate Commerce Committee, stands out.

Sen. Cruz has introduced legislation to prohibit the Federal Reserve from issuing CBDCs directly to individuals. The Texas senator’s bill is co-sponsored by Senators Braun, R-Indiana, and Grassley, R-Iowa.

The legislation prohibits the Federal Reserve from developing a direct-to-consumer CBDC, which could be used by the federal government as a financial surveillance tool, among other things.

Should the digital dollar arrive in our virtual wallets, the longstanding U.S. motto that has graced our coin and paper currency is unlikely to be visible.

But it will prove to be more important than ever.