Americans are worried that a U.S. Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) could end up compromising essential freedoms, further centralizing monetary policy, and making the country’s currency vulnerable to hacking, according to a recently published Fed survey.
In January last year, the Fed published a white paper on what a CBDC could look like. It asked for public comments on issues like potential risks and benefits a CBDC can have on the country. On April 20, the Fed released the responses in nine documents. Here are some of the various answers and concerns expressed by respondents, some of whom were named, others who were unnamed, as well as those whose names were redacted.
A student from Texas pointed to the breach of privacy, government overreach, and hacking as risks posed by CBDC. “With this digital currency, the government would be able to usurp freedoms without the knowledge/consent of the public.
“The best e-hackers and cybersecurity personnel don’t work for the government. They work in the private sector. It is naive to think, given the government’s track record, that it could ever be trusted to secure such an asset.” A CBDC might also trigger a “run on financial institutions,” the individual warned.
Andrew W. from Virginia warned that centralization of monetary policies can “easily be abused and cause unintended disruption.” CBDCs can further centralize monetary policies and “only increases the risk potential.”
Hollie Bishop from Indiana cited public mistrust as her number one concern about central bank digital currencies. “People are afraid of being constantly monitored. Also, our aging and elderly population pay bills in cash and may not know how to use this system, leaving them susceptible to hunger, bills not being paid, etc.”
Power Issues, Quantum Computing Hack
Lucas Vincent from Arizona warned that power consumption is a major issue. “The power consumption that provides the means of creating said digital currency, which has caused power outages in places like Kazakhstan and even New York, is an enormous risk that puts Earth at stake because of the environmental damage that digital currency mining causes,” he said.
Andy Garcia from Georgia notes that the dependence of CBDCs on electricity makes them vulnerable. “If the long-term goal is to get rid of paper currency, relying strictly on CBDC, the entire economic system will become vulnerable and susceptible to crippling cyber-attacks. There needs to be a fallback system that would work without electricity, much like paper currency does.”
Horacio Gasquet from Texas pointed out that with the advent of quantum computing, even the most sophisticated encryption algorithms can be cracked. As such, in order for a CBDC to be “truly secure,” the digital currency should be “rooted in quantum key encryption.”
A few of the comments highlighted purported benefits of CBDCs, like faster fund transfers and providing stability in case of hyperinflation.
Should the US Follow Other Nations?
The Fed asked, “How should decisions by other large economy nations to issue CBDCs influence the decision whether the United States should do so?”
An unnamed individual answered (pdf): “It should send warning signs to our country creating a CBDC. There’s a reason China implemented a CBDC, and it’s not for efficiency.”
Aaron Olszewski from New Hampshire also said, “A shift to a CBDC is a shift to push people away from using that nation’s currency.”
Brian Marshall from Idaho replied, “The United States should first worry about following the Constitution and preserving liberty, not trying to follow other countries in their descent into tyranny. Free markets will always provide the means to exchange one currency for another.”
JC Denton from California said that other nations adopting a CBDC does not mean the United States ought to do the same.
“Our financial purpose should be to focus on our own issues. If other nations wish to perform such actions, it is their choice. We don’t need to follow a bad idea just because other groups are doing it,” said Chad Rytting from Utah.
Phil Zobrist from Illinois said that the United States was “the standard” and it can remain so if “you maintain a strong dollar.”
Many of the respondents reacted negatively to the idea of the United States following other countries in adopting financial systems. A small minority voiced support for a CBDC, stating a goal of catching up to other nations.
The US Constitution
Many responses (pdf) to the Fed survey mentioned how the idea of a CBDC was antithetical to the U.S. Constitution.
When the Fed asked, “Should a CBDC be designed to maximize ease of use and acceptance at the point of sale?” Lawrence Raymond from Maryland replied, “No, because all transactions would become public, which goes against the freedoms outlined in the Constitution.”
When the Fed asked, “Could some or all of the potential benefits of a CBDC be better achieved in a different way?” Richard Hay from Texas said, “Yes, return to the constitutional definition of money, which is gold and silver.
“Fiat currencies continue to destroy the poor and middle class by endless expansion of debt and the money supply destroying the value of wages and savings of the vast majority of the population while enriching the owners of assets by driving asset prices higher via inflationary pressures caused by the expansion of credit. Our founders envisioned an honest monetary system.”
Hay added, “The CBDC would eventually be weaponized against political opponents and groups of people that differ from the beliefs of a centralized control governing system.”
Rodger Reed from California said: “Our economy must remain a function of the constitutional mandate created by the founders. By design, a CBDC does not serve the American people the way sound money does.”
When the Fed asked, “What additional potential benefits, policy considerations, or risks of a CBDC may exist that have not been raised in this paper?” Charles Dowling from Colorado said: “The people who are aware of reality do not respect the government whatsoever. And would probably not use your CBDC. And no one wants an illegal, unconstitutional government poking into their business.”
Privacy Concerns
During a recent speech in Washington, Federal Reserve Governor Michelle W. Bowman admitted that “safeguarding privacy is a top concern” with regard to the use of CBDCs. Bowman wants CBDCs to have enough protections to safeguard the privacy of customers and businesses while also being transparent enough to deter criminal activity.
“In thinking about the implications of CBDC and privacy, we must also consider the central role that money plays in our daily lives, and the risk that a CBDC would provide not only a window into but potentially an impediment to, the freedom Americans enjoy in choosing how money and resources are used and invested,” said Bowman.
“So, a central consideration must be how a potential U.S. CBDC could incorporate privacy considerations into its design, and what technology and policy options could support a robust privacy framework.”
An analysis by the Cato Institute warned that CBDCs pose a foundational threat to America’s economic systems. A U.S. CBDC will eventually “usurp” the private sector and endanger the core freedoms of American citizens, it said.
As such, CBDCs should have “no place” in the American economy, the institute stated. It called on Congress to “explicitly prohibit” the Department of Treasury and the Federal Reserve from issuing CBDCs in any form.
Article cross-posted from our premium news partners at The Epoch Times.
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I would rather use the potato as currency like Bulgaria did in the nineties, I have zero trust of the biden administration, the democrats and the rinos! In God we trust, everyone one else pays cash and the uniparty pays double!
President Nixon made the US Dollar a world wide currency with help from Saudi Arabia. They accepted only US Dollar payment for their oil shipped world wide.
Locally, I prefer the Bartering System. I have no confidence in Digital Currencies.
I would consider a gold backed State Issued dollar. It would still be paper, but it would be good as gold.
We’ve been there and done that. It was too hard for the government employees to fudge the books and for politicians to embezzle funds. That’s why we began the switch to funny money.
The Gold payable certificates were printed with red ink in certain areas, while the silver notes were printed with blue ink.
All we have to do is look at the Federal Government’s current modus operandi when it comes to entities, whether nations, corporations, or individuals, that find themselves in the crosshairs of Uncle Sam. They’re sanctioned, cut off from financial services, and/or investment opportunities. Take Russia, Iran and Venezuela as an example. We like to say China is a punitive actor. But, have they even done a tenth what the government in Washington has done to its perceived adversaries? The government in Washington, D.C. has waged war on countries like Vietnam, Somalia, Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Afghanistan, just to name a few. What chance does an individual living in the United States have against a government determined to destroy you for your political views or cultural affiliations. Trump has been the target of a vindictive political party and an entrenched leftist Federal Bureaucracy for nearly six years with no end in sight. We have civil asset forfeiture laws that make it easy for almost any police authority to seize your assets without due process. If J6 prisoners can be held without bond or habeas corpus, or your compound razed to the ground like Waco, or your family members shot as in Ruby Ridge, or the many other usurpation’s perpetrated upon the people of this nation. What chance will an individual have against government entities standing ready to grind you into the ground. We already have a nanny state trying to tell us what type of vehicles we should be driving, or what type of stove we should buy, or what type of toilets we should install, or even what types of products we can buy. We already have New York state trying to outlaw the selling of all tobacco products while promoting the use of marijuana by making it legal. With CBDCs we’ll only be allowed to buy the products they approve of and not those products we want. With CBDCs they can stop you from buying meat, or alcohol, or tobacco, or any type of fast food, or whatever it is you like, but they don’t. But, believe me, they’re not only doing it for the children, but your own good as well.
Folks don’t seem to grok the drift of the times we are in.
Odds are very high, that “the powers that be” will deliberately cause/allow the destruction of the current system… and all it’s attending financial calamity, as a way to FORCE a helpless nation and world to submit to CBDCs as the “rescue from the terrible calamity”.
Look at what has been done to the U.S. and world, in just 30 months? Joe Biden is a puppet and a Pinåta, put in place to take the beatings with sticks and distract the public from the fact that a bunch of unelected authoritarian neoliberal Marxists are running the whole show and the planned destruction of America and Western Civilization
All I know is that I would rather starve to death then to allow the Beast to control me through its mark.
yes
This would simply be the end of all freedom in AMERICA. We’d be worse off than the poorest country. The government, odious, greedy, totalitarian as it is, would program your money, determining the rate of expenditure, dictate what you could and couldn’t buy, restrict your travel, steal money for taxes. There is absolutely nothing good about it. We want our money in our own accounts and in the traditional form. It’s already fake enough, being federal reserve notes not backed by gold or silver. To go to a digital currency will absolutely end our freedom as a people Do you think the Feds wouldn’t use this to institute their green policies on their time schedule? Do you think they’d monitor our political contributions, etc etc. It would be a nightmare, nothing less. They’d monitor medical expenditures and tell you what you could or couldn’t spend and where. Let me ask you this — is there currently anything they don’t either control or intend to control. How about your pension plan being required to invest in ESG — oh, this goes on and on. There are NO reassurances we could be given that would satisfy our absolute instinct of disaster.
All of those people interviewed were taking the high road. HELL NO we don’t want digital currency. We need way less government both surface and in the shadows. Our Constitution calls for funding of basic understandable necessities, such as an army, infrastructure and that’s about it.
If an article I read was correct, FTX was able to program a back door with 1 number and 1 line of code. How many lines of code and numbers would be needed to program 10 percent for the “big guy”?
Okay, plenty of well reasoned criticism. Nobody who has a clue wants it. Yet,it’s being considered. I’ve yet to see a bad idea that They propose get turned around. When they did NAFTA it was so unpopular that before they passed it, IDK who exactly it was, but there was a man, behind a podium, telling us
We know it’s unpopular but we’re going to pass it. You’ll thank us for it later.
Later has not arrived.
CBDC in nothing more than smoke, mirrors and hot air. What you cannot hold in your hands is not money. It is nothing more than an illusion and a so-called “survey” is a mechanism for the FED to say, “Well, why are you complaining about the CBDC, didn’t with give everyone the opportunity to give their opinion?” No, I never heard of the survey until now, and surveys can be manipulated to say anything the questioner desires. It is my sincere hope that a vast nationwide black-market arises and that no one choses to use a digital “currency,” which would also mean that taxpayers might become nonexistent. Or, states begin printing their own currency and telling the FED’s to shove off. There has to be a limit to what the people will take. Lastly, here is my analogy of the CBDC: Billy returns to his parents’ home to introduce to them his fiancée. “Mom, Dad, I want you to meet my intended wife Alice, who is my AI wife to be.” “But Billy, says Mom, she’s not a real woman, she’s a make-believe woman just like CBDC is make-believe money.” And Billy says, “Well Mom, that’s your opinion.” In the end the FED is trying to tell us that a make-believe currency is real money when in truth they are simply trying to shove their opinion down our throats.
Why the Fed and not The Department of the Treasury?? Another scam from our Government to enslave us
Digital “currency” is a naked power grab by our globalist totalitarian government.
CBDC’s would be absolute tyranny from which there could be no escape. The state could then dictate what you are allowed to buy and when, put expiration dates on your money, force you to comply with it’s dictates (vaccines) and could totally control your life. They could of course also wipe out all you have with a keystroke. Everything must be done to keep this from becoming reality. It is absolute tyranny from which there can be no escape.
I will not use digital. I have zero trust and respect for this government. They are not for the people. This digital currency is just another way to steal and control. No. No. No!