Central bank digital currency (CBDC), which is programmable digital money that could be monitored and censored by the government, threatens to usher in a new form of global tyranny, according to author and serial entrepreneur Aaron Day.
The idea of CBDCs that has been sold to the public is that it’s a form of digital money that’s cheap, easy to use, and more convenient than cash.
Digital money advocates also often argue that going cash-free reduces crime because if would-be robbers know there’s no cash on hand, they'll pick someplace else to rob.
During the pandemic, an added layer of argumentation was added to the cashless push, namely that digital transactions help reduce virus transmission by minimizing the kind of in-person contact that happens when cash changes hands.
But Mr. Day, author of “The Final Countdown: Crypto, Gold, Silver, and the People’s Last Stand Against Tyranny by Central Bank Digital Currencies,” says that all the above arguments are mostly pro-CBDC propaganda that masks its true nature.
‘Global Tyranny’
Mr. Day said the mass adoption of CBDCs would usher in an age where the government tracks every transaction, and this digital money can even be programmed so that people can use it to buy only the things that the government decides it wants people to buy.
Mr. Day warned that, unless people resist and force a course correction, the current “default situation is that we move into global tyranny, in this one world form of government based on fear, centralization, and complete authoritarian control.”
“And the basis for that is central bank digital currency,” he added.
Further, Mr. Day argued that once CDBCs are implemented, then “all of the social credit systems, vaccine passports, and everything that basically limits our ability to even protest or change” America for the better “will be lost forever.”
Mr. Day’s warning comes amid a growing push for the adoption of CBDCs across the world.
“CBDCs should not be fragmented national propositions ... To have more efficient and fairer transactions, we need systems that connect countries—we need interoperability,” IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said during an event in Morocco on June 19, 2023.
CBDC in the United States
CBDC adoption in the United States has slowly gained traction, with the Biden administration releasing a paper last September that examined the possibilities of introducing a technical framework that would support a U.S. digital dollar.“If the United States pursued a CBDC, there could be many possible benefits, such as facilitating efficient and low-cost transactions, fostering greater access to the financial system, boosting economic growth, and supporting the continued centrality of the United States within the international financial system,” said the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, detailing the technical framework possibilities for a U.S. central bank digital currency.
“While instant, 24/7 payments seem good, there’s implications to leaning into credit-based system. FedNow can quickly transform to a surveillance system,” he argued.
The Fed has repeatedly denied that FedNow is related to the adoption of a CBDC, insisting that it’s a payment system that allows businesses and individuals to receive instant payments.
For instance, during congressional testimony in early March, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell was asked by a lawmaker whether there’s an advantage to the FedNow payment system over a CBDC or stablecoins, which also tout faster payment services.
“A CBDC is going to be years in evaluation,” Mr. Powell said at the time. “And I think we can get this into the hands of the public very quickly, and we’ll have real-time payments in this country very, very soon.”
FedNow “will enable all the banks—any bank in the United States, not just the big ones—to offer instantly available funds and real-time payments to their customers,” Mr. Powell said before the House Financial Services Committee on March 8. “That’s a great thing.”
A similar private-sector payment system that offers instant settlement features, such as FedNow, has been around since 2017.
Some Fed officials have warned that CBDCs could pose risks to the country. During a speech on April 18, for example, Fed Governor Michelle W. Bowman stated that safeguarding privacy is a “top concern” when it comes to CBDCs.
Threat to ‘Core Freedoms’
While institutions like the IMF see the adoption of CBDCs as inevitable and are laying the groundwork for their wide adoption, an analysis from the Cato Institute found that CBDCs pose a foundational risk to America’s economic systems while offering few benefits.Proponents of CBDCs routinely cite the promotion of financial inclusion, faster payments, making fiscal policies easier to implement, and, in the case of a U.S. central bank digital currency, it would help preserve the dollar’s status as a world reserve currency.
However, the Cato analysis says all four arguments don’t hold water.
On financial inclusion, the think tank said that the push for CBDCs fails to take into account that private sector innovations are taking place. Further, as a solution, it doesn’t really address the needs of the unbanked, the think tank said.
As to the faster payments argument, Cato analysts acknowledged that speeding up transactions is a “noble effort,” but that “a CBDC would fail to provide a unique, or even additional, benefit compared with the existing developments in the private sector.”
The think tank also dismissed the argument that a U.S. CBDC would help preserve the greenback’s status as the world’s reserve currency. They assert that the dollar’s attraction isn’t based on one particular financial technological platform or another but on factors such as property rights and a strong economy.
“The dollar’s renowned status is owed to the strength of the American economy and its legal protections for private citizens relative to most other countries, not the specific technology enabling electronic transfers,” the analysts wrote.
The final argument—that a CBDC would help with the implementation of monetary and fiscal policy—also falls short, according to Cato, which called the idea that a digital dollar would let policymakers fine-tune the economy both “sanguine” and “concerning.”
At the same time, while a CBDC wouldn’t offer any unique benefits compared with existing technologies, it would pose “serious risks,” the think tank warned.
This includes a “substantial” threat to financial privacy and financial freedom, as well as the foundation of the banking system itself.
