By now many in the crypto scene have heard that the world's governments are on the verge of launching Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), which are electronic fiat currencies issued directly by Central Banks. Let's examine how the world will change when CBDCs become prevalent.
Not everybody has realized that effectively money has been electronic for 10+ years in industrialized countries. Cash is used in less and less daily commerce, and large financial transactions are almost always electronic in this day and age. Buying a new car or house with cash immediately arouses suspicion with the IRS or other legal entities. It's illegal to travel internationally with more than $10k. One of the main reasons to implement CBDCs is to ban cash. Countries like Sweden have mostly eliminated cash, except in rural areas. No cash means that people must be on the CBDC system to have any money at all. Given the recent moves by government to coerce people with lockdowns, vaccine mandates, and digital ID, making the entire money supply centrally controlled by government is truly terrifying. However, CBDC is only a continuation of a 20+ year trend of increasing government and banker control of the world's wealth. Consumers in most industrialized countries have tacitly accepted that they don't own their money under the guises of convenience and safety.
China's digital Yuan CBDC has already been launched. This enables the Chinese government to bypass US government sanctions on SWIFT, formerly the only system which could transfer large amounts of money internationally. Basically the digital Yuan breaks the USA's monopoly on international banking. For Chinese consumers, the CBDC is total hell, all transactions are permissioned and tracked. The digital Yuan even has an expiration date (as will the British CBDC) - if you don't spend your money before that date, it goes away! This would effectively mean the end of saving, nobody could get ahead. Your rights to spend CBDCs as a consumer could likely be regulated by AI, for example you can't buy anymore alcohol after you've reached your monthly purchase quota. The possibilities are endless for government to control and mold the behavior of its citizens.
Cryptocurrency is uniquely positioned to prevent the worst outcomes of CBDCs. When cash is banned, many people will move to crypto to exercise their financial autonomy. Many are already buying crypto, gold, and silver to preserve their wealth and avoid electronic fiat. Also, crypto will likely serve as an intermediary between CBDCs, as the USA is unlikely to allow free exchange of the Chinese CBDC for the US version. Finally, censoring crypto transactions (other than ETH) will be difficult or impossible for governments.
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/btc/comments/10xd2ix/what_will_cbdc_central_bank_digital_currency_hell/
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