So a US CBDC will be decentralized, permissionless, transparent, non-censoring, and run on open-source software based on an open specification?

Fees are currently as low as $0.03 on Ethereum layer-2 solutions (!= side-chain) [4]. The fees will further fall as the technology improves, and once L1 gets (data-/dank-)sharding and other L2-scaling oriented upgrades.

[1] https://makerdao.com/en [2] https://reflexer.finance [3] https://www.circle.com/en/usdc [4] https://l2fees.info

Fees in crypto fantasy land are irrelevant to most people.

How much does it cost to pay your rent or buy food in the real world?

Crypto is probably not going to beat domestic interbank dollar transfers for small amounts, these transactions can be regulated down to zero fees like we see in the EU and UK.

Thank you. It's probably not going to beat domestic interbank dollar transfers for ease of use either. With a CBDC, most consumers will only notice new capabilities and faster money transfers --- at zero cost.

Back to the original point: A CBDC will eliminate any argument for crypto --- except for paranoia.

And about paranoia --- imagine the outcry if government decided to store every transaction you ever did in an immutable public database?

Forcing citizens to use a CBDC is straight out of 1984 playbook.

FUD anyone?

Citizens won't be using a CBDC --- at least not directly. Everything *citizens* do will still be denominated in good ole USD just like always.

The CBDC will be used behind the scenes by banks and the Fed to speed up and modernize the banking system --- to replace the antiquated ACH system that was originally designed in the paper check era.

Basically, a CBDC will allow digital wallet like features to be seamlessly added to every existing US bank account.

Your landlord doesn't exist in crypto land either --- and he will quickly grasp the fact that doing business in crypto has real world costs.