Whistleblower and privacy advocate Edward Snowden wrote a scathing opinion editorial on Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). Snowden was highly critical of CBDCs, calling them the “newest danger cresting on the public horizon.”
He also stated that rather than being an innovation, they are a perversion of cryptocurrency and a cryptofascist currency.
CBDCs Deny Users Ownership Of Their Money
Although central banks and politicians worldwide have backed Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), several critics believe that they are no different than centralized databases. Snowden, the former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and National Security Agency (NSA) subcontractor, published his article on Saturday, talking about what he thinks about CBDCs.
A Fan Of Decentralized Crypto Assets, not CBDCs
The article talked about what Snowden thought CBDCs bring to society. While Snowden is a fan of decentralized assets and cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and others, he does not feel the same about CBDCs, highlighting his concern when it comes to the adoption of the technology.
Snowden emphasized that he believes CBDCs are not a digital dollar, unlike what most sources would want to make you believe. He wrote in the article,
“I will tell you what a CBDC is NOT — it is NOT, as Wikipedia might tell you, a digital dollar. After all, most dollars are already digital, existing not as something folded in your wallet but as an entry in a bank’s database, faithfully requested and rendered beneath the glass of your phone. Neither is a Central Bank Digital Currency a State-level embrace of cryptocurrency — at least not of cryptocurrency as pretty much everyone in the world who uses it currently understands it.”
Denying Users Ownership Of Their Assets
Snowden further described cryptocurrencies as a perversion of cryptocurrency that was explicitly designed to deny users the basic ownership of their money and making the state a party to every transaction.
“Instead, a CBDC is something closer to being a perversion of cryptocurrency, or at least of the founding principles and protocols of cryptocurrency—a cryptofascist currency, an evil twin entered into the ledgers on Opposite Day, expressly designed to deny its users the basic ownership of their money and to install the State at the mediating center of every transaction.”
Snowden concludes his article by stating that people earn a living through their labor and asked the US government, the Fed, and the Treasury whether the money should be centralized by the state.
”Of all the things that might be centralized and nationalized in this poor man’s life, should it really be his money?”
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
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