Danger! This is the Digital Currency We Should All Avoid

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They say money is power. Well if that is true, there has never been any time in history where people like you and I have had so little.

Control the money and you control the people.

Instead of us having control over our money, those in power do.

Don't believe me? Answer me this ... do you think people in Russia today have more or less control over their money than they did a few months ago.

What if this was not restricted to criminals or war zones? What if it can get even worse?

This, I am sorry to say, is coming to your country, and very soon.

The Ultimate Technology of Control

The technology I am warning you about is called Central Bank Digital Currency.

It will give your government unprecedented power over YOUR money. Systems of control that have never existed in history until now, and we are partly to blame for making it happen.

You see, our championing and use of cryptocurrencies have shown a desire and a utility for all-digital money. We love the speedy, frictionless, transactions. What these CBDCs do though is take away the other part of the equation ... decentralization.

When an oligarch gets their yacht confiscated, many of us cheer. We are ok with drug dealers getting assets confiscated, but the vast majority of criminality is in cash or traditional banking.

Did you know that currently, crypto is used by criminals far less than regular money?

Oh Canada

As a Canadian, I have been watching closely both the "trucker" protests and the government's reaction to them.

People directly affected by the protestors, especially those living in our capital implored Trudeau to clear the streets, and to get their lives back, so our government used every tool available.

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The final straw for the protestors was chilling - the government ordered banks to freeze the accounts of people directly involved in the protests.

Just imagine not being able to access your own money, and all the ramifications that would have to you and your family.

Now, I am not choosing sides here, there were some very unsavory people involved in the protests (one nazi is too many, and there is no good reason for confederate flags to be flown in Canada) as well as ordinary citizens expressing their democratic rights, and something needed to be done for the rest of us (the clear majority) who were NOT involved or in support. It has to be said that there has been an OVER reaction on the government's part, and it is not a pattern we would love to see replicated in the future.

Protestors could still spend any cash they had on hand, and people could hand them donations. Things that would not be possible in a digital scenario.

This goes to show even the freest of countries, and one of the most highly regarded countries in the world can take authoritarian steps. If it can happen in Canada, with a minority Government at that, it can happen to you.

Scared Yet?

China, of course, is at the forefront of implementing these systems, and is already implementing tools that use your social credit to impact your financial credit.

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At the press of a button, using CBDC the government could:

  • force you to spend your money (help the economy by keeping it moving)
  • make your money expire (use it or lose it!)
  • control your spending (eg. budgets, carbon limits)
  • control what you can and cannot buy (eg. junk food, cigarettes, alcohol)
  • stop loans or make them more expensive (how responsible are you on paper?)
  • limit your travel/mobility (no cross-border protesting for YOU)

As a programmer, what scares me as much as intentional use of these new powers would be unintentional. Bugs, corruption, coercion, hackers ... there has not been a system built that was hackerproof.

Yes, there are lots of security and convenience factors to digital currencies as already mentioned, not least easier taxes, and I am actually in favor of experimenting with things like Universal Basic Income that CBDCs could bring about.

The problem is those would be trojan horses - the real reason why governments want to have CBDCs is power and control over our money and ourselves.

Of course, shutting down counterfeiting would be a huge boon to national currencies, especially the USD, but they don't need their own currencies to do that.

Bottom Line

We already HAVE digital currencies. The problem for governments and central banks is they are decentralized. There are limits to how much they can even trace the use of current cryptocurrencies, let alone stop you entirely from using them. Today.

As much as we can, we need to resist any calls for monopolization by governments of digital commerce. If we don't, we could lose any freedom we cherish today.



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4 comments
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BTC is the weapon against that

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I agree, though there are going to be people advising the elites and the banksters who are aware of that so they will be taking measures. It's already estimated that a HUGE amount of the available BTC is held by traditional powerbrokers, heck there are people who say Satoshi is the CIA ;)

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Big Brother is watching... control the money, control the people

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Worse, Big Brother doesn't just want to watch anymore

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