Central bank digital currencies, currently in various stages of development around the world, are being created as a new form of money that, depending on how they are structured, could give government bureaucrats more control over citizens than any law ever could.
In contrast to what most Americans today understand as money, commercial bank deposits denominated as dollars, a U.S. CBDC could be issued directly by our central bank to individuals in the form of a "Digital wallet." A digital dollar could also be programmable with controlling features.
The European Central Bank is also moving forward with the implementation of its own CBDC, the digital euro, and Deutsche Bank predicts that central banks collectively representing one-fifth of the world's population will issue CBDCs by 2025.
China issues the e-CNY directly from its central bank to consumers, who set up a digital-wallet app that allows them to buy from vendors by scanning their phone at the point of sale, thereby transferring digital yuan directly from the buyer's government account to the vendor's without transaction fees.
"A central bank digital currency is not a herald call for freedom," Whalen said.
The big questions regarding the architecture of a digital dollar system include whether Americans' CBDC accounts would be held at private banks or the Federal Reserve, and what form the CBDC should take, with proposals ranging from an anonymous digital token to one that is traceable and programmable.
Actor Jeff Goldblum famously told dinosaur-engineering geneticists in the blockbuster movie Jurassic Park that their "Scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, they never stopped to think if they should." Likewise, much of the discussion from central bankers and tech consultants regarding CBDCs has focused on solving logistical problems, with less thought going toward what sort of society the technology would usher in.
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/biden-admin-takes-steps-toward-a-digital-dollar/
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