A popular whistleblower, Edward Snowden, has given his thoughts on what Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) mean for individuals globally. In his view, CBDCs are a “cryptofascist currency” dishonestly designed by the government to abolish private ownership of money.
In his article in which he discussed this proposition at length, he discussed the history of money and how economies arrived at the financial instruments currently in use. Snowden argues that policies have consistently diminished the power of money by moving from using scarce assets to using fiat currency. For Snowden, the transition to the proposed CBDCs would give governments unlimited and unparalleled control over any type of financial transaction within their jurisdiction, removing any restrictions they currently face.
Snowden especially gained popularity as a former National Security Agency employee. He leaked top secret information from the National Security Agency (NSA) in 2013. His concerns about CBDCs are largely due to the growing popularity of financial instruments. Snowden said in his Twitter post on the subject:
“A CBDC is cryptocurrency heresy, or at least its founding principles and protocols are. It is a crypto-fascist currency openly designed to take fundamental ownership of your money by putting the government at the center of every transaction.”
Besides, the IMF recently announced that as many as 110 countries are seriously considering CBDCs and are at different stages of implementing their digital currencies. Despite its reservations about cryptocurrencies, the innovation seems to have approval of the global structure as well. IMF Managing Director, Kristalina Georgieva, described CBDCs as a technology that gives people the tools to make transactions “without interruption and with less cost.”
In the cryptocurrency space, too, CBDCs have gained some momentum. Ripple has announced that the country will collaborate with Bhutan to implement the rollout of its CBDC solution. China has a long history of testing CBDCs, while Nigeria has come closest to launching a CBDC. Nigeria had planned to launch e-Naira on October 1, but had to postpone it. In recent reports, the country’s central bank announced that the launch is “a few days away.”
However, sentiment towards CBDCs is mixed and crypto advocates are largely negative. Crypto advocates are wary that countries seriously considering CBDC, including China, are willing to replace cryptocurrencies with restrictive policies out of fear of competition.