Bitcoin Policy Institute Pens Paper Calling On US To Reject CBDC – Bitcoin Magazine
The Bitcoin Policy Institute (BPI) has released a report detailing why the United States should not create a central bank digital currency (CBDC) and should instead promote freedom and privacy, according to a release sent to Bitcoin Magazine.
BPI begins by exploring the strong possibility that the 21st century could be known as “The Chinese Century”, referring to the authoritarian use of China’s CBDC and other military, economic and cultural hegemony.
Thus, as more nations have begun to develop and issue their own versions of CBDCs, it is becoming increasingly clear that governments are fighting to not only maintain their authority over legacy finance, but seek an entirely new level of power.
“People today can only act at the pleasure of the state via banks that use police power as quasi-state institutions,” the report said.
Therefore, the BPI urges the US government and central bank regime to follow a new path forward; a path that strengthens privacy and increases freedom.
“When the world goes the way of China in the 21st century, the United States should stand for something else: it should stand for freedom,” the message said. “For this reason, the United States should reject central bank digital currencies.”
However, if the United States were to reject the idea of CBDCs, something must address the need for digital currencies, especially digital fiat that enables low fees and virtually instant cross-border transactions.
“The highly monitored and controlled world of digital money suggests that a meaningful alternative must be private, uncensorable and free,” the report said.
“This is the hallmark of bitcoin: a global cryptocurrency issued by a protocol rather than by a bank,” the report continued.
Fortunately, Bitcoin provides all of these necessary benefits: instant, low-cost or free transactions, domestic and cross-border transactions, final settlement, no built-in monitoring or transaction control, and no central entity capable of controlling Bitcoin’s monetary policy.
In addition, the BPI noted that Bitcoin is likely to work alongside privately issued stablecoins originating from banking institutions, although it is not clear that this is necessary. However, this idea helps close a temporary gap when it comes to the issue of digital fiat access.
“To solve this problem [access to digital fiat]cryptographic stablecoins linked to fiat currencies and backed 1:1 with hard security can be issued by private banks worldwide.”
The report concludes with a call to the United States to take the more difficult path, the path that strengthens privacy and ensures freedom without centralizing power in a system that no doubt breeds future abuse.
“We live in a world characterized by the systematic erosion of individual privacy, which inexorably leads to the extinction of freedom,” according to the report.
