Bitcoin vs. CBDC – The Battle for Privacy That You Must Fight Before It’s Too Late

CBDC.

This barbaric acronym should speak to you if you regularly read my articles.

If not, I'll end the suspense right away: CBDC stands for Central Bank Digital Currency.

Behind these letters is the new fad of all governments around the world to better monitor, control and censor the people.

Of course, you can imagine that your government is not going to present you its CBDC like this. It would be too big and the people would be offended.

Instead, governments will present CBDCs as great progress. In a world where everything is going digital, CBDCs will be presented as the logical evolution of fiat currencies.

If cash still exists, and fortunately so, you will tell me that fiat currencies are already digital. Yes, but an intermediary is needed between the central banks and the people. These intermediaries are private banks. To create money, you have to borrow through these private banks.

For the central banks, this becomes too restrictive.

Not content with having constantly reinforced their power by indebting the world more and more, the central banks now want direct access to the citizens. And this can only be done through CBDCs.

Seeing China pushing for the development of its digital yuan since the end of 2019 will not surprise you. CBDCs are after all the missing piece to the puzzle of the mass surveillance society that China has been building for years under Xi Jinping.

However, to see Western governments that present themselves as defenders of democracy and freedom longing to follow the CCP model on CBDCs might seem more surprising.

And yet, Western governments want to take us towards this society of mass surveillance where cash will be gradually eliminated. Yes, cash allows you to remain anonymous. And governments don't want that anymore, because it's impossible to control you.

Let's take the example of the Fed.

The Fed defends itself from wanting to push a digital dollar. However, everything indicates in fact that the Fed will go in this direction. To better convince the people of the necessity of the emergence of a new financial system in which we will find FedNow, then a digital dollar, the Fed is letting regional banks die by reinforcing the concentration of the American banking system.

The few “too big to fail” banks that are taking advantage of the situation can only bow to the Fed. In any case, it is the Fed that decides. And you know that as well as I do.

If the Fed didn't have this plan, it would have slowed down the rate hikes to allow these regional banks to get a second wind. The Fed would not have said for months that the rate hikes would be gradual, encouraging bankers to take more and more risk. And then the Fed followed up with 10 rate hikes in just one year, something not seen in decades.

The Fed wants the general public to call for a new financial system to put an end to these bankers' excesses. The Fed already has its solution, which it will be able to impose better by making this show.

The digital dollar will follow.

So now that the context is presented, you can tell yourself that you have nothing to hide and that it will not bother you more than that.

So I'll try to list a comparative list (probably not exhaustive) of the characteristics of CBDCs and Bitcoin, which I think is the way to protect yourself from these CBDCs.

CBDCs

• Require Permission to Spend
• Your Money Can Expire
• Infinite Supply (Brrr …)
• Linked to Government ID
• Centralized
• You Can’t Run Your Node
• Censorship
• Can be Confiscated
• Must Trust Custodians
• Arbitrary Changing Monetary Policy
• Insecure

Bitcoin

• Spend Without Permission
• Your Money Never Expires
• Fixed Supply 21M BTC
• Pseudonymous
• Decentralized
• Trustless
• Permissionless - You Can Run Your Node
• Censorship-Resistant
• Cannot Be Confiscated
• Self-Custody
• Predictable Monetary Policy
• Secure

If you prefer a graphic version, take a look at this one:

After comparing these two lists of features, I'll let you tell me if you prefer a future where CBDCs are forced upon you. A future where cash disappears.

A future where your governments can force you to use your money in a particular area before it expires.

A future where all your payments are analyzed to create a profile of you.

A future where you can no longer remain anonymous, simply to enjoy the basic human right of privacy. You have nothing to hide, but you don't want your government to know everything about your life.

I'll stop there, but I think you've understood where your interest lies.

Your interest is in Bitcoin. Monero can also be a good alternative if you want even more built-in privacy features. But you will have the problem of much less liquidity with Monero on the other hand.

It's up to you as always.

Stay strong, Stay Bitcoin HODLers.

Also published here.