Over the weekend, discussions of central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, were trending on social media as many people believe the idea will result in increased financial surveillance and a totalitarian monetary system. In a recent interview, Lynette Zang, chief market analyst at ITM Trading, warned that CBDCs “will lead the world into a full surveillance economy that can be directly controlled by the central bank.”
‘It has started to convince him to support a controlled CBDC’
In the last week, discussions about CBDC have social media trend, and the comments show that people are highly skeptical of central bank cryptocurrency assets. The opposition has come from influential people and politicians known throughout the world. Former congresswoman and 2020 US presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard recently criticized the idea in the United States.
“(The) Biden (administration) aims to implement a central bank digital currency (CBDC) to achieve a cashless society, allowing them to track everything we buy (and) control our money,” Gabbard opined. “(The) government’s ‘Fednow’ system is necessary (as the) first step in achieving their dream of (a) a cashless society. This must be stopped from the beginning, or it will be too late,” he added.
Seen in London by a member of the team.
we say no #CBDC because we want our financial privacy. pic.twitter.com/nn8nOKq0ya
— Corner Office (@coinbureau) April 16, 2023
The US central bank’s Fednow program has generated a lot of debate of late, and the Federal Reserve recently claimed that the project was not a digital currency, CBDC, or cash replacement. Other discussions have focused on the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) CBDC pilot project, Project Icebreaker. BIS recently launched a video about the project, and people have commented on the organization’s statements. “He started convincing him to support a digital currency controlled by the Central Bank,” tweeted Podcaster James Miller.
Why CBDCs are a totalitarian dream pic.twitter.com/KsbZ6cFxLF
— Jon Najarian (@jonnajarian) April 16, 2023
Natalie Smolenski, a senior researcher at the nonprofit, nonpartisan organization the Bitcoin Policy InstituteHe also criticized the video for Project Icebreaker. “Literally all the benefits of this CBDC interoperability project (BIS ‘Project Icebreaker’) can already be realized by the bitcoin Lightning Network,” Smolenski wrote. “CBDCs are completely unnecessary. There is no problem that they solve. They are simply reinserting central banks in roles where they have already become obsolete.” According to the Atlantic Council CBDC Tracker114 countries are working on CBDC and 11 countries have fully launched implementations.
Your property and privacy depend on the total rejection of all CBDC schemes.
— Libertarian Party (@LPNational) April 7, 2023
CBDCs will usher in a “total surveillance economy,” says market analyst Lynette Zang
Lynette Zang, Chief Market Analyst at ITM Trading, warned of the dangers of CBDCs in a recent video with Michelle Makori, Kitco News Senior Anchor. This is not the first time Zang has criticized CBDCs; she spoke to Makori about the issue in a video posted last February. In her most recent discussion, Zang spoke about the collapse of Silvergate Bank, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, saying the failures were “by design.” Zang believes that a CBDC will usher in a totalitarian monetary system that will become the new norm of the economy.
US TREASURY SECRETARY YELLEN: THERE ARE SIGNIFICANT ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES TO A CBDC THAT NEED TO BE CAREFULLY CONSIDERED BEFORE MOVING, BUT IT MAY BE SOMETHING IN THE FUTURE FOR AMERICANS.
— Latest market news (@financialjuice) April 15, 2023
“They need a big enough crisis for people to agree to this next iteration, CBDCs,” Zang explained to Makori in his last interview. “It also leads the world into a total surveillance economy that can be directly controlled by the central bank, if all your wealth is kept within the system.” Zang believes that with CBDCs negative rates will be imposed on people’s bank accounts and people’s capital will be threatened. “Central bank digital currencies are really about control and also the ability to remove capital,” Zang said. “Negative rates attack their principal… When they come out with a CBDC, it doesn’t mean that this crisis is over. It’s just the next phase.”
Not everyone is opposed to the concept of CBDCs, and in a recent opinion editorial, Keynesian economist Paul Krugman criticized Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ recent opposition to a central bank digital currency. Krugman referred to the hostility as resistance against “wake up money” and claimed that DeSantis may be motivated by “general paranoia.” On Twitter, Krugman too opined that dissent towards CBDCs may be “tied to a broader push by currency conspiracy theory types” and stated that the theories have been “kind of right-wing for a while.”
What do you think about the rise of CBDCs and the potential of a cashless society? Do you agree with the criticisms made by some people? Share your views in the comments section below.
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