CBDC Thread

[No One]

Quote

U.K. citizens could be limited to holding 10,000 British pounds (US$11,900) each in a new digital pound, as the Bank of England seeks to avoid a new central bank digital currency undermining the banking system.

 

The central bank appeared to favor centralized databases over the blockchain as it seeks a technological basis for the digital currency, which officials said on Monday would be likely to be needed.

 

"The Bank would place some limits on holdings of digital pounds, at least during its introductory period," to avoid citizens hoarding their assets in safe central bank money and skirting around the commercial banking system, a consultation published today by the central bank and U.K. Treasury said. "We judge that a limit of between 10,000 and 20,000 [pounds] per individual is likely to strike an appropriate balance between managing risks and supporting wide usability of the digital pound."

 

The range of holdings would allow 75%-95% of U.K. earners to take their salary without breaching holding limits, the document said, but could vary by individual, it added, citing differences based on region, age and gender.

 

The central bank appears to take a cautious view on the ability to pre-program how funds can be used. While it could allow money held in trust to be released when smart contract conditions are met, or ensuring taxes get paid automatically, that functionality also changes the nature of money as a freely exchangeable good.

 

U.K. banks on Tuesday expressed concern that the central bank digital currency (CBDC) could effectively encourage a bank run as customers move to hold central bank money directly, perceived as the safest form of asset.

 

A separate technical paper published by the central bank said distributed ledger technologies that underlie crypto and blockchain-based solutions "might have advantages in guaranteeing consistency and resilience," while presenting "privacy, scalability and security challenges."

"Centrally governed, distributed database technologies might achieve the ledger requirements without such limitations. Therefore, these technologies might be appropriate for the core ledger design," the technical paper said.

 

The central bank appears to take a cautious view on the ability to pre-program how funds can be used. While it could allow money held in trust to be released when smart contract conditions are met, or ensuring taxes get paid automatically, that functionality also changes the nature of money as a freely exchangeable good.

 

“The Bank will not implement central bank-initiated programmable functions,” the technical document said. “Instead, the Bank would provide the necessary infrastructure for the private sector to implement programmability features for users. Those features would require user consent.” (bullshit)

 

The central bank said it would allow private sector companies – such as those providing anti-money laundering checks on wallets or offering analytics services – to offer programmability on top of central bank infrastructure, but said any functions shouldn’t reduce simplicity or performance.

 

Regulated private intermediaries would have privileged access to the central bank’s core infrastructure, the consultation said – but personal holdings will appear on the central bank’s ledger, not on the balance sheet of the wallet provider.

"The digital pound would have at least the same level of privacy as a bank account and would also allow users to make choices about data use,” the consultation said. (bullshit)

 

It won’t be anonymous, but neither the government nor the central bank will have access to personal data, (bullshit) and the police will have access only on a “fair and lawful basis. (bullshit)” The central bank said it is still considering how to set limits if corporations, and even financial firms, should get access to the digital currency, too.

 

The consultation is open for comment until June 7.

Digital Pound Holdings Could Be Limited to 10K, Central Bank Says (coindesk.com)

embolden and red text are my edits

 

Saw a string of articles like this, 6 months ago it would have been considered a "conspiracy theory" by some Alex Jones quack, but here it is in the open.

The question that hasn't been asked is "why".
Why do we need this programmable shit, what benefit will it have for the people of this country and why now?

 

 

[Petatep]

20 minutes ago, Wight Flight said:

It has no benefit for us.

But it is the glue that will hold together every other restriction they want to put on our lives.

The final piece of the jigsaw if you like.

Maybe the foundations of where they want to go, I think the final piece of the jigsaw is still a ways off.

The "why do they feel the need" is the big question for me. If I could understand that then the form it will eventually take would be easier to see and react to. 

[Yadda yadda yadda]

19 hours ago, Wight Flight said:

My best guess is they know we actually are running out of easily used fossil fuels.

We either have enough for us all for 50 years, or 1,000 years for the elites so long as they massively reduce the little guy's ability to consume.

Partly keeping limited fuel for the rich but Modi announced an expectation of India's use of oil to double and gas to increase by 500% earlier this week.

They want a global government so that big business can more easily get what it wants. Clearly that cannot be democratic. 8 billion people would equate to 400 politicians each representing 20 million people. Eg even London doesn't get an MP to itself. The UK and Ireland might get three with another shared with northern France. Netherlands would be lucky to have one. Simply not going to happen. Democracy at that level is impossible as there would be no accountability. Therefore, any global government will not be democratic and this will be illegitimate in the eyes of everyone who believes freedom and democracy are good ideas.

It follows that a global Government needs democracy to be despised in those countries where the idea is popular. It is also very difficult to have a global Government over a very unequal world. How can such a government accept ordinary plebs in the USA having detached houses and a car each whilst there are people without running water? If we have a global government then why can't I live anywhere? Why should the UK be richer than India? You cannot very well be a globalist and want that to continue. It is necessary for the UK, Europe and the rest of the western world to get relatively a lot poorer. A condition that would give rise to sentiment that democracy wasn't working. Additionally the globalist wants India to get richer to legitimise both their seemingly successful, clever globalist leaders and level the playing field. They also want to destroy a sense of national pride. Just look at what they're doing to the USA! Perception of differences other than nationality are to be encouraged. National unity destroyed and belittled.

It is actually very easy for a globalist to delude themselves that they are doing this for moral reasons. After all why should I have a better standard of living than an African? However, they ignore that there is no reason why the globalist should be richer than me either.

Bill Gates demonstrated this attitude perfectly in his interview this week. It was ok for him to fly around the world because he was doing good. Besides he had paid for his flights to be carbon offset it didn't matter. If he wanted to do good he could carbon offset until he ran out of money and not fly at all. That would be genuine altruism, from the point of view of someone who cared about carbon. All he really cares about is power and his ego.

Back to CBDCs. They're the control mechanism for intrusive micro-managing that they probably think is a utopia. An equal share for everyone. Except the worthy people controlling it all, they're better than the plebs after all. You, pleb, are just a servant for the greater good. Like a worker ant or bee.

[23rdian]

On 08/02/2023 at 15:58, nirvana said:

complete control of the plebs by big brother, aka corporate/WEF controlled governments

why now? system is fukked innit, too much debt, inflation out of the bag.......

numbers for places like the UK just don't add up anymore ie more being dished out in benefits and pensions than being 'produced' by the daft workers

dunno, maybe stuff like final stages of the kalergi plan, joos worried that the dissenters are getting a bit too lippy lol

System is fucked. They need more control to micromanage it. Maybe help combat negative rates. Last time they had to engineer pandemic lite. 

They are corrupt. They know that we know it now though. 

Edited February 9, 2023 by 23rdian

[PETR4]

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1134845/CBDC_WEB_PDF_-_7_FEB_2023_1130am.pdf

There's a substantially read here if anyone wants it.

Whilst snooping and control aspects are perfectly possible, if money stops being money because people won't trade it due to the inherent restrictions then the whole effort is pointless.

To me CBCD offers 3 main uses:

1. Increased cyber security.

2. Reduced settlement cost and 24 hour continuous settlement

3. Job creation scheme for financial services. "supported by a public digital pound infrastructure available to all eligible private-sector
firms that wish to develop new payment services"

We already live inside a legal and montary control framework, from which there is no escape unless you live wild. If they want to know the TPTB can know almost every detail about your live and you are naive to think they can't.

[PETR4]

2 hours ago, Wight Flight said:

Knowing is one thing.

Controlling is another level.

The control is already here. It's not always overt, so people are fooled into thinking it's not in place.

[ashestoashes]

On 08/02/2023 at 15:32, No One said:

Digital Pound Holdings Could Be Limited to 10K, Central Bank Says (coindesk.com)

embolden and red text are my edits

 

Saw a string of articles like this, 6 months ago it would have been considered a "conspiracy theory" by some Alex Jones quack, but here it is in the open.

The question that hasn't been asked is "why".
Why do we need this programmable shit, what benefit will it have for the people of this country and why now?

 

 

why - they can enforce behaviours they want eg going green, spending and not saving, inflation can be programmed in and money expired to force spend it or lose it

[reformed nice guy]

There are thousands of laws and rules. The average person probably breaks a couple a month if not a week. The ability to monitor everything means that if someone was ever a risk to the system then they could access the records then use the machinery of the state to stop them.

The Obama administration used the IRS, EPA and other federal bodies to harass Tea Party activists for a recent example.

[One percent]

Best go digital as you won’t be able to access cash. 
 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-64567962

The number of free-to-use cash machines in the UK has dropped to 39,429, the lowest number since 2008.

The use of physical money fell sharply during the Covid-19 pandemic and has not returned.

 

 

[Bear Hug]

 

14 min long

[ashestoashes]

On 08/02/2023 at 15:32, No One said:

The question that hasn't been asked is "why".
Why do we need this programmable shit, what benefit will it have for the people of this country and why now?

https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/social-credit-brazilian-style-all-ubi-recipients-must-be-vaxxed

CBDCs will be the rails for UBI programs

The emergence of Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) initiatives in nearly every nation on earth clearly signals the direction this is going. Nearly every CBDC white paper or proposal I’ve come across have the following three characteristics spelled out in plain text, and I expect every CBDC to have these five capabilities baked-in, whether or not they are initially enabled (or  documented).

#1) Expiry dates / use-by dates

CBDCs will have expiry dates after which their value will evaporate or erode. What I’ve noticed is white papers coming out of central banks started framing it as a feature, not a bug, to facilitate “recovery of lost funds”.

Abstract
An important feature of physical cash payments is resilience, which is due to their indifference to power outages or network coverage. Many central banks are exploring issuing digital cash substitutes with similar online payment functionality. Such substitutes could incorporate novel features, making them more desirable than physical cash. This paper considers introducing an expiry date for online digital currency balances to automate personal loss recovery. We show that this functionality could substantially increase consumer demand for digital cash, with the time to expiration playing an important role. Having more information available to the central bank improves accuracy of loss recovery but may decrease welfare.
— Best Before Expiry? Expiring Digital Currency and Loss Recovery, Bank of Canada Staff Paper, December 24, 2021

However the real reason CBDCs will have expiry dates is to stimulate money velocity and keep recipients dependent.

#2) “Anti-hoarding” features

Saving for the future is being rebranded as “hoarding” and it is becoming officially unfashionable because personal savings reduces dependancy on the state. The easiest mechanism for achieving this will be through negative interest rates on savings accounts, as per this IMF white paper,

“A world with lower inflation (and even zero inflation) and no persistent recessions may sound like a pipe dream, but we argue that it is possible by transitioning to an “electronic money standard.” Such a transition requires eliminating the zero lower bound, which central banks can achieve using readily available tools. Breaking the zero lower bound implies that the optimal rate of inflation will be lower than in the presence of the lower bound. This will empower central banks to quickly restore full employment and, over the medium term, possibly move toward targeting full price stability with zero inflation.”

…which goes on to outline the challenges there would be in eliminating the “arbitrage” between digital and physical cash:

A zero lower bound can be broken through a combination of (1) adopting or strengthening an electronic money standard in which electronic money is the unit of account and (2) implementing a time-varying interest rate (or more generally, rate of return) on paper currency (cash). Then, as the interest rate on cash moves in line with the official policy rates, there is no arbitrage between cash and money in the bank. Operationally this can be done while remaining quite close to the current monetary system, but there are several legal, communication, and political challenges to a transition to such an electronic money standard (Agarwal, and Kimball 2019).

(Despite the current rise in rates, once the money printers fire back up, this is where we’re headed).

#3) Total Information Awareness

Once it’s digitized in a centralized database (central banks) as opposed to being cryptographically secured on a decentralized blockchain (Bitcoin) – everything becomes known to central authorities instantly. Taxation can be applied per-transaction, but more interestingly – prices can also be modified on the fly.

If you’re behind on your property or income taxes – or have an unpaid fine (maybe because you’re fighting it), for example, they could simply enable a rolling garnishee on your wallet until it’s paid off.

While all transaction signatures are public on Bitcoin – they are pseudonymous and more importantly, unalterable. It’s true it may be known or discoverable that A sent sats to B, but there’s nothing any third-party can do about it. With Lightning on the ascent, combined with  various privacy enhancements there – Bitcoin development is moving in the direction of more freedom and more privacy – which is the opposite direction of most CBDC initiatives.

Finally, whether CBDCs are launched with the noblest of intentions, there will at some point arise “an emergency” which will make it necessary for The People in Charge to “flip the switch” and turn them into:

#4) Social Credit Systems

Imagine if “LoonCoin” was a thing last year when the #FreedomConvoy hit Ottawa (and signalled the beginning of a worldwide revolt against Covid tyranny). Instead of emailing a list of bank accounts to be frozen that were cribbed from a (hacked) spreadsheet, they could simply direct the Bank of Canada to turn off everybody’s digital wallets who were in the vicinity of the protest, or who contributed to their crowdfund, or who retweeted the #HonkHonk hashtag.

Do you think they wouldn’t have done it?

Covid vaxports have already been weaponized in China, Brazil is doing it with their UBI program and when this is all formaized into a CBDC, they will probably not launch it without the framework for widespread social credit and control systems being part of the plumbing.

We all know from our experience with the pandemic, emergencies tend to drag on in perpetuity. The “War on Terror” is still in effect, and there are still legions of collectivist automatons tweeting #CovidIsntOver.

So when “The Long Emergency” (to use James Kunstler’s term) becomes a never ending, rolling climate crisis, the social credit systems built into CBDCs will be used to enforce:

#5) Carbon footprint tracking

Back in Carbon Rationing, CBDCs and Sound Money I wrote how this trajectory is more or less baked-in now, and that the state-run financial system is undergoing a shift from a debt-backed monetary system to one based on carbon quotas.

Dashboard of Svalna’s app. Image credit Svalna.

This is the ultimate end-game of CBDCs. There is no hidden agenda or conspiracy around this (there’s already a Mastercard that cuts off your spending when you exceed your carbon quota), and globalist elites are quite up front about it….

[MrXxxx]

"What's worse, drug dealers or central government?"

 

..well I can choose whether to interact with a street drug dealer, but as 'we' found with Covid 'our' options to interact with the other drug dealer were limited!

[Kevin Redshaw]

13 hours ago, MrXxxx said:

"What's worse, drug dealers or central government?"

 

..well I can choose whether to interact with a street drug dealer, but as 'we' found with Covid 'our' options to interact with the other drug dealer were limited!

These blokes are idiots, and this is Janet and John dumbed-down nonsense.

1. Plenty of people still use cash, even in London.

2. CBDCs will replace retail banks extremely quickly

3. Digital implants for CBDCs have already been patented. 

These two chumps are MI5, I'd bet my life on it. They're selling CBDCs on the grounds that it will stop illegal drug dealing. 

If you want to understand CBDCs you'd be better off watching this

They were also pushing the Paul Krugman / Steve Keen recommendation of debt jubilees, without any real consideration of how it might affect the creditor - beyond moronic Keynesian mumbo-jumbo. 

Finally, there was the dead giveaway Masonic brick wall shown in the background.

Edited February 13, 2023 by Kevin Redshaw

[onlyme]

On 08/02/2023 at 20:13, Wight Flight said:

My best guess is they know we actually are running out of easily used fossil fuels.

We either have enough for us all for 50 years, or 1,000 years for the elites so long as they massively reduce the little guy's ability to consume.

50 years is a long time, supply would go to nothing it would just get more expensive, a lot of time for alternatives to be scaled in. . Not doing some of the obvious - like severn barage, (10 percent of supply IIRC) suggests that something else is at play. What about thorium salt reactors - pretty basic, safe, reliable by the looks of them, buried and ignored as they wanted enriched uranium products for bombs.    

[Shits McGee]

On 13/02/2023 at 07:36, Kevin Redshaw said:

Finally, there was the dead giveaway Masonic brick wall shown in the background.

To be fair, every brick wall is 'masonic' 

[Napoleon Dynamite]

From LinkedIn. Don't think they're going to get very far with it it if this is how they're starting.

[Caravan Monster]

Discussion on CBDC with Union of the Unwanted. Suspect some of the participants are rather well baked during the conference  but they do also seem generally decently researched. Interesting accounts of various attempts to introduce CBDC being fairly unsuccessful in several nations:

https://odysee.com/@uotuw:e/uotuwo068:8

[Long time lurking]

And what it`s all really about ,if you believe the shite the "ALT" media are pushing you are simply being played by both sides ,,Chnina man bad 

 

[Caravan Monster]

Russell Brand normie friendly video starting with the CBDC pilot in Aus, moves on to discussing the implications of CBDCs. Well researched and presented:

https://rumble.com/v3a2q15-this-will-be-worldwide-within-365-days.html

[Long time lurking]

 

Edited September 9, 2023 by Long time lurking

[Kendo]

Just come back from a couple of hours in the park. Headed into the park cafe to buy a drink and about to purchase via debit card when bloke behind the counter told me, sorry boss, cash only.

Slightly surprised given it’s the park cafe with youngsters, middle-class families and oldies the main customers, but no probs, I still always make sure I have some cash on me. I then look down and there’s a few leaflets on the counter warning me about CBDCs and Big Brother Government wanting to keep tabs on all our spending, etc. 

[Formerly]

2 hours ago, Kendo said:

Just come back from a couple of hours in the park. Headed into the park cafe to buy a drink and about to purchase via debit card when bloke behind the counter told me, sorry boss, cash only.

Slightly surprised given it’s the park cafe with youngsters, middle-class families and oldies the main customers, but no probs, I still always make sure I have some cash on me. I then look down and there’s a few leaflets on the counter warning me about CBDCs and Big Brother Government wanting to keep tabs on all our spending, etc. 

Love. Having been unable to spend cash on a night out recently this is a lovely alternative. As is our cash only local tyre fitter.

[Kendo]

1 hour ago, Formerly said:

Love. Having been unable to spend cash on a night out recently this is a lovely alternative. As is our cash only local tyre fitter.

Yeah, it’s not the sort of establishment where I thought the ‘revolution’ would start, given as well that the park is maintained by a local charity with volunteers in partnership with a local and borough council. I’ve suddenly got an urge to listen to the Kinks’ Village Green Preservation Society now!

[Onsamui]

Armstrong Economics Every central bank is developing its own CBDC. The goal of the globalists is to combine these digital currencies into one centralized database. Although Pix is not a CBDC, it has served the purpose of acclimating the banks, merchants, and users to the idea of a cashless society.

[Onsamui]

Trump Speaks Out Against CBDC | Armstrong Economics 

Donald Trump says "As your president, I will never allow the creation of a Central Bank Digital Currency. Such a currency would give our federal government absolute control over your money."