Freddie New

“There is a tension between what the users of a currency want – and the users of a currency tend to like freedom, autonomy, and discretion as to what they spent their money on – and what the issuers of a currency want; and bluntly, the issuers of a currency want control. Control of monetary policy, and control of you.” The Bank of England’s consultation papers make very clear the level of control that they wish to exercise over you, and over your supposed financial autonomy, if you were to use their #DigitalPound. (1) You’ll need to provide ID in order to use the #DigitalPound: “For the digital pound, tiered access would allow for different levels of user access and functionality based on the amount of identification (ID) a user is willing or able to provide.” (2) The Bank will dictate how much you can hold: “The Bank would place some limits on holdings of digital pounds, at least during its introductory period.” (3) The digital pound will be programmable, if not by the Bank itself then by third party providers: “Programmability, delivered by Payment Interface Providers, could also enable the use of smart contracts, which carry out specific actions based on pre-defined terms and conditions.” Quotes are from from the Bank of England’s Digital Pound consultation paper: Whatever the #DigitalPound will be, it won’t be cash. Cash does not require me to show ID to use it. I can hold as much cash as I want or need. And, along with #Bitcoin, cash is a bearer instrument whose title is freely transferrable upon delivery, which is very difficult for a central bank to control. And long may it stay this way. A huge shout out and thank you to Lyn Alden, who made this point much more eloquently than I did in her excellent book #BrokenMoney. Thank you! Also I’m aware that my hand gestures in this clip are reminiscent of Richard Hendricks manipulating ‘datas’ on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt in #SiliconValley, and for this I can only apologize: #BitcoinConference #Amsterdam #NoToCBDCs

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