Ever wonder why you have not been hearing about the penny being dropped or a new dollar coin being introduced? Today it is all about Central Bank Digital Currencies These are digital versions of a country’s physical currency issued by central banks.
They claim the role of these digital currencies is to support financial services for a nation’s government and its commercial-banking system. Still, it will replace much of the physical currency we use today. The premise of why this is being done deserves to be scrutinized.
In some ways, CBDCs are similar to cryptocurrencies, except their value is fixed by the central bank and equivalent to the country’s fiat currency. The Federal Reserve has developed a service named FedNow for depository institutions in the United States. FedNow is described as a service and suite of tools available to banks, credit unions, and other financial service companies. It will enable individuals and businesses to send and receive instant payments. It is also designed so that banks will be able to build products on top of the FedNow platform.
The Fed has stated that FedNow is not intended to kill or replace other money transfer options like Venmo, Cash App, PayPal, or Zelle. Instead, it is designed to work alongside the current systems built by the private sector. Still. FedNow could rapidly become a game changer. Money.com notes this FedNow is launching soon. FedNow was scheduled to begin formal certification of participants of the program in April 2023, with a formal launch planned for July 2023. It will operate on a 24-hour, 365-days-a-year basis,
This new system differs from consumer-facing apps which allow instant peer-to-peer payments, FedNow won’t be an app per se. It’s more designed to allow banks to move money instantly. More than 50 financial institutions are “early adopters” of FedNow, some of the notable banks that will use FedNow include JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Peoples Bank.
FedNow will only be available to customers of the banks that choose to implement FedNow. The Fed says all 10,000 or so banks that are regulated by the Fed can join but will not be required to do so. The claim is that, for everyday people, FedNow could make managing money much easier and faster. It would allow you to pay your mortgage bill on Christmas Day without worrying about it being delayed or late because of the holiday.
This also means that transferring money between, say, your checking and savings accounts at different banks could be done instantly. Even gig workers like Uber drivers could get paid immediately after each completed ride. It also means a record of every transaction that occurs will be put on “record.” In short “big-brother” will know everything you do, your preferences, and how you live your life. To many of us, this amounts to an invasion of privacy.
All things considered, when asked, if the war on cash is a real thing being directed from those on high, sadly we must answer yes. Sadly, most people are going along with this and many have embraced ditching cash. This has wide long-term ramifications. Small businesses often rely more on small cash transactions, it is the banks, big businesses, and companies like Amazon that flourish when cash is removed. Simply put, in general, the small businesses and retailers on Main Street are left worse off.
Those of us skeptical of governments and high-tech reaching ever deeper into our lives and thus stealing our freedom are concerned. While I’m personally not a fan of cryptocurrencies, many of these people are. The whole future of crypto depends on how governments regulate and decide to recognize them. This makes it clear the future of crypto is tied to the importance of electing a pro-crypto candidate next year.
Still, it could be argued that FedNow is another step towards more control over the individual. Twenty minutes into this video by Coin Bureau the narrator takes the stand that Fed Now truly seems to be a Trojan Horse to usher in a CBDC system. It points out that while not everyone will choose to “opt-in” and adopt such a system, it will appear benign to most people and rapidly be accepted. Even those that resist will find the government will most likely force them to use it when dealing with official agencies.
This article dovetails with an AdvancingTime post from the fall of 2021 titled; The War On Cash, Is It A Real Thing? The Answer Is Yes. It delves into how cash reflects “options for the people” and it appears those in charge of such things want it gone. The fact is that currencies were developed to facilitate and ease transactions between individuals and businesses. The war on cash is simply another way Washington can continue to show its favoritism towards big business.
It is also related to another AdvancingTime post that centers on the growing dependence of society on technology. High-tech societies are particularly vulnerable to collapse due to their population being dependent on both the system and others to provide the basic items they need to survive in everyday life. Basic survival skills are important and being prepared is linked to thinking about what is often considered the unthinkable. Today many members of society lack those skills.
I have just spent much of my week dealing with the frustrations of high-tech’s failure to meet its promises of making life easier. Most of society has become totally dependent on computers, the electrical grid, cell phones, and a slew of gadgets designed to make life more comfortable and pleasurable. All are parts of a fragile system that could at any time break down leaving us unable to function.
The bottom line is that not all of us see being controlled as a good thing and replacing currencies with their digital brethren is another tightening of that control. This again reinforces the idea that governments prefer big businesses over many smaller ones because they are easier to regulate and control. The best way to resist the war on cash is to insist on using cash, especially when doing small transactions with local businesses.