In a striking turn from the Biden agenda, the Trump administration took a decisive step to block a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) in the U.S.
Since the issuance of an Executive Order on Jan. 23, President Donald Trump’s action has spurred bipartisan congressional voices to safeguard free speech, financial freedom and privacy. Given the direction in which the Biden team was marching us, the new moves came just in the nick of time.
CBDCs carry with them more than the inherent inflationary dangers of central bank fiat currency. By their design, they pose the increased danger of political manipulation, the omnipresent threat of behavioral limits and time limits for use, in addition to the panopticon of constant government surveillance and the vast potential for censorship akin to the communist Chinese government-style social credit score system.
Former President Joe Biden feverishly worked to lay the path to a CBDC dead-end, signaling his goal to the world in November 2021, with his nomination of a U.S. comptroller, a Moscow State University grad named Saule Omarova, according to The Wall Street Journal. Omarova is infamous for having advocated for a central authority over banking akin to CBDCs.
And, though Omarova’s nomination collapsed like a collectivist economy, Biden and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York soon funded a plan called Project Cedar in November 2022, while Biden allies such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) made television appearances to advocate for government-run, behavior-modifying CBDC, and attack speech like the blockchain-oriented crypto currency Bitcoin.
As a result, the significance of Trump’s executive order cannot be overestimated.
The order prohibits federal agencies from pursuing CBDCs, terminating any existing Biden-era plans, and noting, in part:
“Except to the extent required by law, agencies are hereby prohibited from undertaking any action to establish, issue, or promote CBDCs within the jurisdiction of the United States or abroad.”
And the Trump move has fired a virtual starter’s pistol for members of Congress as well.
On Feb. 6, Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT), Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Rick Scott (R-FL), in conjunction with Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN), took legislative action. In a press release, Lee touted the legislation to ban CBDCs from the U.S. permanently. Lee warned of the precedent set in China: “China canceled its citizens’ money after a set period, forcing [them] to spend their savings at the compulsion of the government.”
Closer to home, Americans might recall the shocking 2022 attack on speech, privacy, banking, funds-transfers, and overall freedom conducted by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Canadian government, and, specifically, then-board member of the World Economic Forum, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, as they used government power over financial institutions to pressure banks into freezing accounts of pro-freedom truckers and protesters who wanted to support them.
This brazen power grab shocked many Americans who saw the Canadian tyranny, recognized the dangers of the Chinese digital Yuan, and used logic to consider the threat that CBDC poses to our natural rights.
As opposition grew, even Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have been forced to back off.
Testifying Feb. 11 before the Senate Banking Committee, Powell committed to Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) that no CBDC would emerge under his watch.
However, while CBDCs may be off the central government and central bank agendas, whispers of digital ID laws that carry with them similar dangers still creep across numerous states.
In Texas, Connecticut, Nebraska and Utah, bills ostensibly proposed to protect children from online predators or adult-oriented content have raised legal questions. Could these measures—often pitched as safety nets—quietly pave the way for tracking and speech hurdles akin to what CBDCs might have wrought? Time will tell.
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