I do have a problem with being too polite sometimes lol

Step 1: Campaign against CBDCs Step 2: Become President and issue an EO against CBDCs Step 3: Nominate the one pro-CBDC candidate, Kevin Warsh, for Federal Reserve Chair? Trump really is the president of contradictions.

Apologies all. I normally limit my Substack posts to one a week, but I managed to send two... at the exact same time. I'll hold off on any posts next week. https://bankingbureau.substack.com

I saw you already linked to the HRF CBDC Tracker (Merci!). Please do feel free to pull as much as you want from it as you make updates. In addition to the Eurozone and the CBDC 101 pages you linked, I also have a page dedicated to what the Banque de France is up to. (Note: I'm about to roll out updates on the economic data snapshots, so that's a bit dated. However, everything else is up to date.) https://cbdctracker.hrf.org/currency/france

Ignorant about economic history? Biased against Bitcoin? Fond of making proclamations without research? Congratulations. You can lead a central bank. https://www.cato.org/blog/french-central-bank-wrong

The ECB isn't hiding it. Europeans will be forced to use the digital euro.

I had not seen this site before. This is great!

Darn. I thought it was open, but I guess I had a one-time link. I got you. I'll cross-post it to my Substack later this week, too, so it's available for all.

Sadly, it really has blinded so much of the MAGA base.

I do agree that someone is this thread isn't making sense

Resorting to ad hominem without addressing questions speaks volumes.

inb4 "many such cases"

Banque de France Governor François Villeroy de Galhau: Central banks are more democratic and independent than "private issuers of bitcoin." Brian Armstrong: "In the sense that central banks have independence, Bitcoin is even more independent. There's [no one] who controls it."

Secretary Scott Bessent is building a legacy of financial surveillance and control. The announcement that he is stopping Americans from sending their money abroad and increasing surveillance under the Bank Secrecy Act should be condemned. Yet, it should be no surprise. Yet, it should be no surprise. It was only just last year that Secretary Bessent increased financial surveillance to target transactions as little as $200. After being sued for this violation of fundamental freedoms, he responded by expanding surveillance to cover even more Americans. This playbook has been used time after time. When the Bank Secrecy Act was first passed, Congress claimed Americans were hiding money in Swiss bank accounts. Then it was expanded to fight the war on drugs. Then it was expanded again for the war on terror. Now it seems it’s the war on fraud. Fighting crime is a worthy endeavor. However, we cannot sacrifice the freedoms that make America great in the process.

We've all seen Brian Armstrong set the record straight at the World Economic Forum when the Banque de France governor said he doesn't trust the company running bitcoin. But did you know that's not the only thing the governor got wrong? https://www.cato.org/blog/french-central-bank-wrong Villeroy de Galhau also tried to appeal to history by pointing to the experience of free banking in the United States. He described this era as suffering from “many crises of confidence.” He did so in an attempt to undermine trust in private money, but the only trust undermined here should be that in governments. What he didn’t say is that crises occurred during this period in large part because of the laws and regulations in place that made banks unstable. My colleague, George Selgin, has gone to great lengths to correct this record. The general public may be forgiven for not knowing this history, but central bankers have no excuse. Villeroy de Galhau then said gold was a “sovereign asset” governed by the state. However, this claim is similarly misleading. The use of gold as money predates legal tender laws. Villeroy de Galhau took this opportunity to also say that CBDCs are the next evolution of money. If CBDCs are an “evolution” of anything, they reflect the evolution of state control over monetary systems—not a natural progression arising from the market. Turning away from the forum, Villeroy de Galhau also mentioned his support for CBDCs in his “New Year’s address.” Curiously, he said, “2026 will see the first central bank digital currency.” Taken as written, this statement is wrong. The first CBDC was arguably created in 1992. That project died, but CBDCs have seen a resurgence. China, India, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Russia, The Bahamas, and others have all launched CBDCs in one form or another. So, in the first 21 days of 2026, the Banque de France governor managed to get it wrong on Bitcoin, US history, gold, and CBDCs. That track record is almost as bad as central banks managing inflation.