Admittedly, I did not expect this year to include speaking before the European Parliament on debanking and CBDCs, but here I am.

There are some notable differences, but I get that’s not a popular thing to say

A "cashless economy is the preferred choice for the central bank." I mean... at least they are upfront about it. https://repositorio.banrep.gov.co/server/api/core/bitstreams/e74bc0c3-e866-4b31-a00d-3eebf8f83f03/content

Today marks the anniversary of President Nixon's 1971 decision to end the gold standard in the United States. I can't help but notice that the same appeals to "protect the dollar" here mirror what politicians now use to say we need a CBDC.

I’m not sure what’s more ridiculous: the idea that showing this disclosure here is actually helpful or that someone had to pay money to have this disclosure shown.

Amazing. Thank you for flagging!

Can we take a moment to talk about the digital bolívar in Venezuela? In early 2021, Nicolas Maduro briefly hinted that a “digital bolívar” would soon be part of an effort to digitize the Venezuelan economy. Many people took this statement to mean a CBDC was on the way. Later that year, the Banco Central de Venezuela seemed to confirm those suspicions when it announced the digital bolívar was indeed on the way along with a currency devaluation. Well… here it is. The “digital” bolívar. No, this is not a hyperrealistic AI-generated image of what a digital bolívar might look like. It really is a physical banknote. The only thing that's new is the devaluation so that 1,000,000 sovereign bolívars = 1 digital bolívar So, it’s not a CBDC by any means, but there is a side note to this story that unexpectedly captures just how absurd the Venezuelan monetary system has become. The central bank forced shops to post prices as both sovereign bolívars (Bs) and digital bolívars (Bs.D). Yet, there is a third label on prices that can also be seen in Venezuelan shops: REF. In short, this means to reference the dollar. For the fans of statistics, I probably don't need to point it out. However, “REF” is also the error code that Excel will display if a formula is broken. And frankly, this label could not be more fitting. Something is clearly broken if a central bank has launched a non-digital, digital currency denominated at 1/1,000,000th of its previously hyperinflated currency that was already on its second devaluation. As if this story were not enough, there’s also the tale of when Maduro introduced an actual digital currency called the “petro.” However, I'll leave that for another day. If you want to learn more about this story and other CBDC developments around the world, check out the CBDC Tracker. https://cbdctracker.hrf.org/home

Efforts to slow or block the creation of a CBDC have received little support among congressional Democrats—even though the risks involved strike at the heart of core progressive values. Indeed, for a movement that has consistently fought against surveillance, discrimination, and the abuse of government power, CBDCs should raise especially sharp concerns. Thank you to for letting me write a guest post. https://progressivebitcoiner.org/central-bank-digital-currencies-clash-with-progressive-values/

50 pages defending “CBDC privacy” summed up in 2 quotes: “This Article demystifies the exaggerated concern that a [CBDC] would serve as a tool for government surveillance, demonstrating instead that a [CBDC] can offer enhanced privacy protections through the examination of current technical designs.” “Of course, if a government or central bank intends to use a CBDC system for surveillance, they certainly have the capability to design it accordingly.” 🔗: https://www.hastingslawjournal.org/wp-content/uploads/D-Article-Jiang.pdf

Who else should I be following on here?

Well, I appreciate the consistency in that case

If that's your argument, then there is no difference between using a debit card and using a CBDC. Is that your stance?

Generally speaking, they differ in terms of direct control (government vs private sector), access (permissioned vs permissionless), identity requirements (government ID vs pseudonymity), and reach (geofenced vs global). That's not to say there are no similarities. Neither truly embodies open and free monetary technology. However, only CBDCs give the government direct access and control over your financial activity by default. https://www.cato.org/blog/are-stablecoins-cbdcs-disguise-no