greggles
I'll be back!
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- 28 July 2004
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I've been hearing a lot recently about digital versions of national currencies being planned by various governments around the world. The Atlantic Council has a CBDC tracker where you can find out more about the current status of CBDCs in various countries around the world: https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/cbdctracker/
My initial gut feeling is that governments are embracing CBDCs for two main reasons: to help recover lost tax revenue by tracing more transactions that would otherwise be invisible to the authorities and to effect more oversight and control over personal and corporate finances. Both of these purposes give me great cause for concern, especially when it comes to the issue of privacy. Cash gives us a certain anonymity that a CBDC will remove by creating records of all electronic transactions that would have otherwise been anonymous if cash had been used.
Will people turn to other forms of hard currencies such as precious metals if CDBCs are introduced? I confess to having started to buy some silver and gold bullion as a backup in case of government overreach into the financial affairs of ordinary citizens. Cash in its current form seems to be on the way out.
This is just a starting point for further discussion. My knowledge is fairly limited so I am interested in hearing the thoughts of others on CBDCs and related issues.
My initial gut feeling is that governments are embracing CBDCs for two main reasons: to help recover lost tax revenue by tracing more transactions that would otherwise be invisible to the authorities and to effect more oversight and control over personal and corporate finances. Both of these purposes give me great cause for concern, especially when it comes to the issue of privacy. Cash gives us a certain anonymity that a CBDC will remove by creating records of all electronic transactions that would have otherwise been anonymous if cash had been used.
Will people turn to other forms of hard currencies such as precious metals if CDBCs are introduced? I confess to having started to buy some silver and gold bullion as a backup in case of government overreach into the financial affairs of ordinary citizens. Cash in its current form seems to be on the way out.
This is just a starting point for further discussion. My knowledge is fairly limited so I am interested in hearing the thoughts of others on CBDCs and related issues.