We’ve been hearing for years that central banks around the world are considering issuing a digital version of their own currency. The so-called central bank digital currencies, a tool that makes it possible to control almost the entire economy. However, in America, there appears to be little interest in this at the moment among central bankers.
‘CBDC is worthless’
Minneapolis Federal Reserve Chairman Neil Kashkari made it clear during a guest lecture at Columbia University that he doesn’t see much in the digital version of the dollar. “Central bank digital currencies are worthless unless you want to control, spy on and exhaust your population as in China as a whole,” Kashkari said.
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Statements like this from someone like Kashkari make it clear that prominent figures in the United States are not seriously considering the digital dollar right now. If you think about it, it makes sense, since freedom is such a fundamental value to the United States, the digital dollar seems to go against that.
In countries like China, the government is more likely to come up with these kinds of initiatives, because it fits perfectly with its view of the world and how it should govern and lead people. An official investigation is underway in Europe, but it remains to be seen how serious the central bank is about this.
Bitcoin vs CBDC
Many people see central bank digital money as a direct competitor to Bitcoin, but in principle they have nothing to do with each other. Bitcoin is digital money and CBDC is also digital money, but this is where the comparison really ends. Within the Bitcoin ecosystem, the same rules apply to everyone and no one has the ultimate power, whereas this is completely incompatible with CBDC.
The absolute scarcity of bitcoin is also a characteristic that is impossible to bake into a central bank digital currency. Theoretically, central banks could promise never to print another digital euro or dollar again, but that remains just a promise in exchange for bitcoin’s security. When it comes to absolute scarcity, central banks do not have to create a new and distinct form of money, they can only use bitcoin.
