Authored by Nick Giambruno via InternationalMan.com,
There’s an excellent chance governments worldwide will soon force their citizens to use central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
CBDCs enable all sorts of horrible, totalitarian things.
They allow governments to track and control every penny you earn, save, and spend. They are a powerful tool for politicians to confiscate and redistribute wealth as they see fit.
CBDCs will allow central banks to impose deeply negative interest rates, which are just a euphemism for a tax on saving money.
Governments could program CBDCs to have an expiration date—like some airline frequent flyer miles—forcing people to spend them, for example, before the end of the month when they’d become worthless.
CBDCs will enable devious social engineering by allowing governments to punish and reward people in ways they previously couldn’t.
Suppose governments impose lockdowns again for flu season, so-called “climate change,” or whatever pretext they find convenient. CBDCs could be programmed to work only in a geographic area, and the government could deny your payments if you travel more than a mile from your home during a lockdown.
Suppose the people in charge want to encourage people to take a pharmaceutical product or some other poison. With CBDCs, they could deposit money into the accounts of those who complied and deduct it from those who didn’t.
Governments and large corporations will undoubtedly pair CBDCs with a social credit system.
Did you commit a thought crime on social media? Or perhaps you read too many politically incorrect articles online? Did you exceed your monthly meat consumption allowance? Then, expect some financial punishment thanks to the CBDCs.
CBDCs are, without a doubt, an instrument of enslavement. They represent a quantum leap backward in human freedom.
Unfortunately, they’re coming soon.
Governments will probably mandate CBDCs as the “solution” when the next real or contrived crisis hits—which is likely not far off.
That’s the bad news.
The good news is that CBDCs are destined to fail.
But that doesn’t mean governments won’t try implementing CBDCs… with immensely destructive consequences for many people who are unprepared to deal with the situation.
It’s important to remember the wise words of Ron Paul:
“What none of them (politicians) will admit is that the market is more powerful than the central banks and all the economic planners put together. Although it may take time, the market always wins.”
No matter what edicts, decrees, or laws politicians pass, they will never be able to fully extinguish people’s desire to use alternatives to CBDCs. That cracks the door open to other options.
For example, consider that Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Argentina, Lebanon, and many other countries restrict the use of US dollars. However, all that does is create a thriving black market—or, more accurately, a free market—for US dollars and a parallel financial system.
We can expect the same kind of dynamic if governments impose CBDCs. I have no doubt significant parallel systems and underground markets will naturally emerge.
Anyone who wants to avoid CBDC enslavement must learn to swim in those waters.
While I believe CBDCs will inevitably self-destruct, nobody knows how long it will take for that to happen.
Communism was also destined to self-destruct, but it took generations. I don’t think it will take nearly that long for CBDCs to fail because it is much easier to opt out.
That’s where Bitcoin comes in.
Is Bitcoin the Antidote to CBDCs?
It’s crucial to understand that CBDCs are a reaction to Bitcoin.
Central banks took notice of Bitcoin’s disruptive potential and realized they had better do something before Bitcoin ate their lunch. CBDCs are their response; as you’ll see, it’s pathetic.
In short, despite all the hype, CBDCs are nothing but a rebrand of the faltering fiat currency scam. It’s old wine in new bottles.
It’s doubtful CBDCs can save otherwise fundamentally unsound currencies—as I believe all fiat currencies are.
If the current fiat system is not viable, then CBDCs are even less viable as they enable the government to engage in even more flagrant currency debasement.
Would a CBDC have saved the Zimbabwe dollar, the Venezuelan bolivar, the Argentine peso, or the Lebanese lira?
I don’t think so.
A CBDC won’t save the US dollar or the euro from their fates either.
There are a lot of bad things that come with CBDCs.
But there’s a silver lining…
CBDCs are going to introduce and familiarize people with using digital currencies. Then, it’s only a matter of time before they discover Bitcoin.
CBDCs and Bitcoin share some characteristics. For example, they are both digital and facilitate fast payments from a mobile phone. But that is where the similarities end.
The reality is that CBDCs and Bitcoin are entirely different in the most fundamental ways.
You need the government’s permission and blessing to use a CBDC. With Bitcoin, nobody can be prevented from using it.
Governments can (and will) create as many CBDC currency units as they want. Bitcoin is totally resistance to debasement. There can never be more than 21 million BTC.
CBDCs are centralized. Bitcoin is decentralized.
Governments can censor transactions and freeze, sanction, and confiscate CBDC units whenever they want. Bitcoin is censorship-resistant. No country’s sanctions or laws can affect the protocol.
There is no privacy with CBDCs. With Bitcoin, if you take specific steps, it is possible to maintain reasonable privacy.
CBDCs are government money that are easy to produce and give politicians a terrifying amount of control over people’s lives. On the other hand, Bitcoin is non-state hard money that helps liberate individuals from government control.
In short, CBDCs are a pathetic attempt to compete with Bitcoin. They are a desperate, last-ditch effort to keep the fiat currency scam going—a Hail Mary.
CBDCs make an inferior form of money even worse, but at the same time, they are an excellent Trojan Horse for Bitcoin.
It doesn’t take much imagination to see that once governments inevitably debase their CBDC units, censor transactions, freeze people’s accounts, and confiscate funds, it will push people to look for better digital alternatives, first and foremost Bitcoin.
Take Nigeria, for example. It was one of the first countries to adopt a CBDC.
The globalists used Nigeria—Africa’s largest country by population and size of its economy—as a trial balloon to test their nefarious plans to implement CBDCs in North America, Europe, and beyond.
However, it was an abysmal failure with an adoption rate of less than 1 in 200 Nigerians despite the government’s best efforts at bribing and coercing the population into using it.
After introducing the CBDC, inflation in Nigeria soared, and Bitcoin adoption grew.
It was the exact opposite outcome the globalists had hoped for.
I expect we’ll see a similar dynamic wherever governments introduce CBDCs.
That’s how, contrary to conventional wisdom, CBDCs could be an enormous catalyst for Bitcoin adoption.
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Tyler Durden
Thu, 02/01/2024 – 05:00
