The potential Orwellian horror of central bank digital currencies

Re:The potential Orwellian horror of central bank digital cu... by uncomputation on Sunday July 11, 2021 @09:59PM (#27806154)

This is a pretty good summary, but I do question what the Fed has to gain from a US digital currency. All of the “rationale” provided here boil down to “so the central banking system doesn’t ‘lose relevance.’” This argument doesn’t make sense to me at all. The Fed controls the supply and policy of money, so perhaps an instant digital currency would help them to implement their policies but is that really a concern of the Fed? This makes it seem like the Fed is worried about Venmo affecting the economy which I doubt it is. Given that the consequences of a shoddy or imperfect implementation would be catastrophic, it seems like something that would take decades of gradual movement.

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Re:The potential Orwellian horror of central bank digital cu... by codehalo on Sunday July 11, 2021 @10:26PM (#27806286)

>This makes it seem like the Fed is worried about Venmo affecting the economy which I doubt it is.

Your doubts are correct. They are not. They are worried about cryptocurrencies.

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Re:The potential Orwellian horror of central bank digital cu... by elevenoh on Sunday July 11, 2021 @11:45PM (#27806773)

>They are worried about cryptocurrencies.

More fundamentally, they are worried about maintaining their status-quo power.

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Re:The potential Orwellian horror of central bank digital cu... by leohonexus on Sunday July 11, 2021 @10:30PM (#27806315)

Agreed. Seems like it's a big reason why Gensler was appointed Chairman of SEC.

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Re:The potential Orwellian horror of central bank digital cu... by leohonexus on Sunday July 11, 2021 @10:13PM (#27806219)

Looking at the positive benefits, it certainly allows mass distribution of relief funds to citizens much quickly than possible, essentially two-way transactions between government and citizens. In the future, can subsidies (e.g. medical, homeowner) be directly credited to CBDC accounts? Maybe.

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Re:The potential Orwellian horror of central bank digital cu... by jlokier on Sunday July 11, 2021 @10:54PM (#27806449)

In a pandemic like situation, it facilitates mass distribution of relief funds to approved citizens.

On the flip side, in a pandemic like situation, cash allows better off citizens to support their non-citizen friends fnancially from starving, while CBDC prevents citizens from doing that if the government chooses to control how the currency is used using technical mechanisms unique to CBDC.

Judging by the various voter disenfranchisement programs being pushed for, I would expect that dividing line between the eligible and the prevented to be somewhere between one group of citizens and another in some states, too.

I am not convinced governments should ever be trusted with deep and detailed control over what people do with personal levels of money, because we are a still a long way from the ideal of treating all people as created equal.

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Re:The potential Orwellian horror of central bank digital cu... by aww_dang on Monday July 12, 2021 @12:20AM (#27807011)

Negative rates become more practical with CBDC.

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Re:The potential Orwellian horror of central bank digital cu... by fedreserved on Sunday July 11, 2021 @10:38PM (#27806358)

There upside for the powers at be is:

1. that all transactions are no longer left to the honesty of the tax filer to be taxable. There will be a paper trail for the authorities.

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Re:The potential Orwellian horror of central bank digital cu... by bluthund on Sunday July 11, 2021 @11:49PM (#27806802)

Control

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Re:The potential Orwellian horror of central bank digital cu... by wyxuan on Monday July 12, 2021 @12:45AM (#27807126)

If vaults are holding wads of paper are gathering dust while everyone is using some others currency else's currency (like the eCNY) over the internet as the global reserve currency, that's a pretty convincing case about the potential for a loss of relevance.

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Re:The potential Orwellian horror of central bank digital cu... by randomhodler84 on Monday July 12, 2021 @10:41AM (#27810743)

Thing is, nobody outside China wants ecny. It’s a toxic asset, I think Xi greatly over estimates the value of his shitcoin.

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