{"id":114022,"date":"2023-03-15T19:04:17","date_gmt":"2023-03-15T19:04:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/?p=114022"},"modified":"2023-03-15T21:13:45","modified_gmt":"2023-03-15T21:13:45","slug":"the-sinister-growth-of-digital-currencies-cbdc-around-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/the-sinister-growth-of-digital-currencies-cbdc-around-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sinister Growth of Digital Currencies (CBDC) around the World"},"content":{"rendered":"

Way back in 2017 I created a country-by-country guide to the biometric ID control grid that was coming into view even then. In that editorial I noted that \u201cit doesn\u2019t take a Nostradamus to understand where this is all heading: From the cashless society and the biometric ID grid to the cashless biometric grid<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Well, here we are. The merger of the cashless society and the biometric ID grid is nearing completion. In fact, the current iteration of this control grid agenda is even worse than predicted. Now known as Central Bank Digital Currency, or CBDC, this programmable digital money offers the banksters numerous options, including the ability to combine the cashless society with the biometric ID grid and even a social credit system. If and when CBDCs replace other payment methods, the banksters\u2019 control over society will be unprecedented.<\/p>\n

But however closely you might be following the drive toward the CBDC dystopia, you might be missing the forest for the trees. Although each country\u2019s central bankers talk as if they have come up with the idea for a digital currency all by themselves and that there is no international coordination behind the CBDC agenda, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, as a recent Bank for International Settlements report indicates, 90% of central banks around the world are currently studying the feasibility of issuing their own CBDC.<\/p>\n

In the past, I have warned about the coming CBDC nightmare and talked about the numerous ways we can start taking the monetary power back into our own hands. Today, I am going to drive home the point that the coming CBDC prison is truly global in nature by demonstrating that it is not just being put into place in one or two totalitarian countries, but nearly every country in the world.<\/p>\n

Only when we recognize how dire the situation is can we hope to motivate communities to implement the survival currencies that will see us through the controlled demolition of the existing monetary order.<\/p>\n

Australia<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has been exploring the possibility of an Australian Central Bank Digital Currency since at least 2019, when its \u201cInnovation Lab<\/em>\u201d drafted a Submission to the Senate Select Committee on Financial Technology and Regulatory Technology, which states that \u201cthe Bank is conducting research on the technological and policy implications of a wholesale CBDC<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

It made good on this threat in November 2020 with the announcement of a partnership between the RBA and Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank, Perpetual, and ConsenSys Software to \u201cexplore the potential use and implications of a wholesale form of central bank digital currency<\/em>.\u201d Philip Lowe, governor of the RBA, has publicly expressed skepticism about the need to implement a retail CBDC in Australia, but the door is still open to the possibility.<\/p>\n

The Bahamas<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Bahamas became the unlikely location of the world\u2019s first nationwide CBDC when they launched the \u201cSand Dollar<\/em>\u201d back in October 2020. The island archipelago\u2014with one of the highest per capita<\/em> incomes in the Americas and a 90% mobile device penetration rate\u2014was viewed as an ideal laboratory for the CBDC experiment by central bankers and hyped as a harbinger of a \u201cnew world economy<\/em>\u201d by the global financial press.<\/p>\n

But the banksters have not been thrilled with the results so far. The IMF told the Central Bank of The Bahamas that it needs to \u201caccelerate its education campaigns and continue strengthening internal capacity and oversight<\/em>\u201d of the currency.<\/p>\n

Brazil<\/strong><\/p>\n

Roberto Campos Neto, president of the Central Bank of Brazil, confirmed that the bank is running a pilot test of its CBDC, the digital real. \u201cThis is a way to create currency digitization without creating a break in bank balance sheets<\/em>,\u201d Neto said at the press conference announcing the pilot\u2019s launch.<\/p>\n

Canada<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Bank of Canada (BoC) announced that it had partnered with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to \u201ccollaborate on a twelve-month research project on Central Bank Digital Currency.<\/em>\u201d The project\u2014which the BoC describes as \u201cpart of the Bank\u2019s wider research and development agenda on digital currencies and fintech<\/em>\u201d\u2014will \u201cexplore how advanced technologies could affect the potential design of a CBDC<\/em>.\u201d This will in turn \u201chelp inform the Bank of Canada\u2019s research effort into CBDC<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Chile<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chile\u2019s central bank issued a report on its plans for a future Chilean digital currency. Spouting the usual bankster platitudes about how a CBDC \u201cwould contribute to achieving a competitive, innovative and integrated payment system that is inclusive, resilient and protects people\u2019s information<\/em>,\u201d the review ultimately concludes that \u201ca deeper analysis of the benefits and risks<\/em>\u201d is in order, and promises (or threatens, depending on your perspective) to issue a new report on the subject later on.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, the Chilean Central Bank governor, Rosanna Costa, has said that Chile\u2019s CBDC \u201cshould operate both online and offline<\/em>\u201d and that it should \u201callow the authorities to trace the transaction afterwards<\/em>\u201d while paradoxically \u201csafeguarding personal data<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

China<\/strong><\/p>\n

The digital yuan has been in the works for at least five years. It is no surprise, then, that China\u2019s CBDC\u2014already operational in various trials\u2014is seen as one of the most developed CBDC projects in the world and is held up by various Western countries as the bogeyman justifying their own CBDC experimentation (\u201cWe can\u2019t let the ChiComs beat us to the punch!<\/em>\u201d).<\/p>\n

As you may know, the People\u2019s Bank of China (PBoC) did a \u201ctest rollout<\/em>\u201d of the currency at the Beijing Olympics, offering athletes, attendees and press the chance to use the new CBDC at the Games. That test was deemed a success, with the PBoC later declaring that the digital yuan was used to make 2 million yuan ($315,000) of payments per day during the event.<\/p>\n

Now, in a new move toward full implementation of the Chinese CBDC, three cities across China have declared they will accept the digital yuan for tax payments.<\/p>\n

European Union<\/strong><\/p>\n

The EU is currently conducting \u201cin-house experiments<\/em>\u201d for a digital euro and expects to start working on a prototype soon. As part of its ongoing \u201cresearch<\/em>\u201d process, the European Central Bank released a working paper on \u201cThe digital economy, privacy, and CBDC<\/em>.\u201d The paper suggests that a digital euro could strike a happy balance between \u201cinefficient<\/em>\u201d offline cash transactions that preserve anonymity and \u201cefficient<\/em>\u201d online bank deposit transactions that do not preserve anonymity.<\/p>\n

The best kind of digital currency, the report concludes, is a \u201cCBDC with data-sharing<\/em>,\u201d a conclusion they arrive at by redefining privacy: \u201cPrivacy is not the opposite of sharing\u2014rather it is control over sharing<\/em>.\u201d Actual Europeans are not buying this self-serving twaddle, but the ECB, unsurprisingly, seems not to be listening to them.<\/p>\n

Ghana<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Bank of Ghana was one of the first African countries to announce that it was developing a digital currency. And now, with the release of a design paper for the eCedi\u2014its retail token-based CBDC\u2014it is one step closer to implementing that vision. The bank is currently soliciting feedback on the proposal from the public.<\/p>\n

Hong Kong<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has released a number of studies, white papers, proposals and discussion papers surrounding the topic of CBDCs over the past few years, from the 2019 announcement of Project LionRock-Inthanon<\/em> (a joint project with the Bank of Thailand to study the application of CBDC to cross-border payments) to the recent \u201cDiscussion paper on e-HKD from policy and design perspective<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

This paper invites \u201cviews from the public and the industry on key policy and design issues for introducing retail central bank digital currency<\/em>,\u201d leaving little doubt that the introduction of a digital Hong Kong Dollar is now all-but-inevitable.<\/p>\n

India<\/strong><\/p>\n

Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman made waves by announcing that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) would launch a CBDC sometime in the next fiscal year. Let there not be any doubt about the Indian government\u2019s intention to make it on its digital currency threat. Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar asserted that the digital rupee is a \u201cnatural progression<\/em>\u201d of the digital payment ecosystem.<\/p>\n

But for those worried about what life in the coming digital dystopia will be like, relax! RBI Deputy Governor T. Rabi Sankar says the bank \u201cwill probably go in for a very careful and calibrated, nuanced manner<\/em>\u201d as it springs its CBDC trap on the Indian public.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Iran<\/strong><\/p>\n

There\u2019s an old canard in conspiracy realist circles that there are only three central banks on the planet that aren\u2019t owned by the Rothschilds. The exact list of these supposedly independent central banks varies in the telling, but Iran is usually included among them. Well, guess what? The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) is all on board with the CBDC revolution!<\/p>\n

Abutaleb Najafi\u2014the head of CBI\u2019s information services company\u2014revealed that, after two years of \u201ccontinuous work<\/em>\u201d on the platform, \u201cthe infrastructure needed for CBI\u2019s cryptocurrency and now its pilot version is ready<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Details on the pilot test of the Iranian CBDC are scarce, but Najafi has confirmed that both state-run and private banks in the country will allow customers to open digital wallets for the currency during the trial.<\/p>\n

Israel<\/strong><\/p>\n

Generally speaking, central banks are finding CBDCs to be a public relations disaster. In every country they hold \u201cpublic consultations<\/em>\u201d about a central bank digital currency and solicit comments from the citizens, but find the overwhelming majority of those responses are negative. As it turns out, people are wary of a government-issued programmable money that could be used to completely exclude them from the financial system itself if they dare engage in activities the government disapproves of.<\/p>\n

The Bank of Israel (BoI) has decided to do an end run around this problem by simply declaring (without showing proof) that it has \u201creceived public support for its plans to possibly issue a digital shekel on grounds it would help the economy by supporting innovation in the payments system, reducing the amount of cash and bolstering the fintech sector<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes, the banksters actually want you to believe that the majority of Israelis support the idea of a digital shekel because it will reduce the amount of cash. Riiiiiiight. Don\u2019t worry, though. The BoI says it \u201chas still not made a final decision on whether it will issue a digital shekel<\/em>\u201d even though \u201call of the responses to the public consultation indicate support for continued research<\/em>.\u201d Riiiiiiight.<\/p>\n

Japan<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bank of Japan (BoJ) Governor Haruhiko Kuroda declared that the BoJ has no plan to issue a digital currency as of yet but that it \u201cwill prepare \u2018thoroughly\u2019 to respond to changing circumstances that could require it to do so in future<\/em>.\u201d BoJ Executive Director Shinichi Uchida clarified that the bank would not introduce a digital yen as a means of achieving negative interest rates, as some have warned.<\/p>\n

Around the same time, Kazushige Kamiyama, head of the bank\u2019s payment system, pledged that the BoJ would follow Sweden\u2019s slow, cautious approach to CBDC testing before any digital yen is actually implemented.<\/p>\n

In a sign that plans for a Japanese CBDC may be further along than publicly acknowledged, however, Kuroda took a moment from fearmongering about decentralized digital assets to state that a CBDC \u201ccould be an option to secure a seamless and safe [payment and settlement] infrastructure in Japan<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Namibia<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Bank of Namibia revealed its plans to launch a CBDC. \u201cWe cannot ignore CBDC, it is a reality out there and for that reason, the Bank of Namibia has started researching CBDCs and they very soon will go out with consultations<\/em>,\u201d the Bank of Namibia Governor Johannes Gawaxab said at a press conference announcing the move, adding that a consultation paper on the plan is nearing completion.<\/p>\n

Nigeria<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nigeria is one of only two countries in the world with an official, nationwide CBDC (the other being The Bahamas, mentioned above). The eNaira is a stablecoin minted by the Central Bank of Nigeria, making it a true digital version of the fiat currency.<\/p>\n

This CBDC has already been declared a success by the bankster class, with the IMF predicting that the eNaira will be adopted by 90 percent of Nigeria\u2019s population. An upgraded eNaira wallet app will allow Nigerians to \u201cdo transactions such as paying for DSTV or electric bills or even paying for flight tickets.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Russia<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) has been working on its own CBDC project for years.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The CBR announced the creation of a \u201cpilot group\u201d of 12 banks that will test a version of the digital ruble. According to statements from CBR representatives, citizens will be able to use the CBDC \u201cfor purchases, transfers to individuals, firms and the state, tax payments, conversions to foreign currencies in e-wallets and as a store of value<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rwanda<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rwanda hopped aboard the CBDC bandwagon, with John Karamuka, the Director of Payment Systems at the National Bank of Rwanda, telling The New Times<\/em> that the central bank was \u201cstudying the possibilities of issuing its own Central Bank Digital Currency in response to global trends in digital currency<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Central bank Deputy Governor Soraya Hakuziyaremye confirmed that the bank was still in the investigation phase.<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 2019 Saudi central bank (the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority, or SAMA) announced Project Aber<\/em>, a partnership with the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates, to determine whether a new, dual-issued digital currency could be used as a unit of settlement between the two countries.<\/p>\n

The final report of that project was released one year later, concluding that \u201ca cross-border dual issued currency was technically viable and that it was possible to design a distributed payment system that offers the two countries significant improvement over centralized payment systems in terms of architectural resilience<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

This led to an admission last October by a SAMA official that the central bank is now actively exploring CBDC as a means to digitize payments, with an ambitious target of having 70% of all payments in the country being conducted digitally by 2030.<\/p>\n

South Africa<\/strong><\/p>\n

The country\u2019s central bank, the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), revealed in May 2021 that it had commenced a feasibility study for a general-purpose retail central bank digital currency. In 2022, it announced that it had completed the second phase of a separate trial, known as Project Khokha 2<\/em>, focusing on the creation of a wholesale central bank digital currency.<\/p>\n

Its project report on the trial concluded that the trial was successful and that the next steps should include further testing and collaboration with other countries on the development of a cross-border digital currency.<\/p>\n

To that end, the bank announced in September 2021 that it signed up to a pilot program to develop a shared platform to enable cross-border digital currency transactions with Malaysia, Australia and Singapore.<\/p>\n

South Korea<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Bank of Korea (BoK) launched a \u201cforward-thinking<\/em>\u201d digital currency pilot program in August 2021 with the aim of exploring the feasibility of a retail CBDC. Selecting Ground X\u2014the blockchain subsidiary of Kakao, Korea\u2019s largest social network\u2014as its blockchain simulation provider and partnering with Samsung to research cross-border payments to other mobile phones or connected bank accounts, the BoK has reportedly invested 5 billion won in the project. Phase 2 of the trial, testing \u201cpayments using CBDC, remittances between countries, and applications of privacy technologies<\/em>,\u201d is slated to wrap up soon.<\/p>\n

Switzerland<\/strong><\/p>\n

In December 2020 the Bank for International Settlements launched Project Helvetia, a \u201cproof-of-concept experiment to integrate tokenised digital assets and central bank money<\/em>\u201d in conjunction with the Swiss National Bank (SNB). In January 2022, the SNB revealed the results of that experiment: Project Helvetia<\/em> \u201chas successfully used central bank digital currencies to settle transactions with five different commercial banks<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The results of the test, we are told, will allow the bank to proceed with some of the most advanced CBDC testing in Europe and \u201ccould pave the way for the implementation of a digital currency in Switzerland<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Ukraine<\/strong><\/p>\n

Remember Bitt, the Barbadian fintech firm that helped to develop the eNaira for Nigeria? Well, guess what Bitt\u2019s working on now? An electronic hryvnia for Ukraine. That\u2019s right, the Ukrainian government paved the way for a CBDC in 2021 by announcing a test pilot of the digital currency, which was slated to begin in 2022.<\/p>\n

No word yet on how Russia\u2019s ongoing \u201cspecial operations<\/em>\u201d in the country have affected that plan, but so far there has been no formal announcement that the CBDC idea has been scrapped.<\/p>\n

United Kingdom<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Bank of England (BoE) has been looking into the possibility of creating a digital currency in the UK since at least 2015. They are still officially in the \u201cresearch<\/em>\u201d phase, with the bank releasing \u201cResponses to the Bank of England\u2019s March 2020 Discussion Paper on CBDC<\/em>\u201d in June 2021. In November 2021, the BoE released a statement that it will \u201claunch a consultation which will set out their assessment of the case for a UK CBDC<\/em>\u201d soon.<\/p>\n

United States<\/strong><\/p>\n

As you may have heard by now, the Biden White House issued an Executive Order on Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets<\/em>. Although the order generated a lot of stories about how the administration was clearing the way for the possible introduction of a digital dollar, it should be noted that the Federal Reserve has been actively exploring the concept for some time now; the \u201cgo ahead<\/em>\u201d from Biden was more window dressing than substantial policy shift.<\/p>\n

Specifically, the Boston Fed has been collaborating with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Project Hamilton\u2014a \u201cmultiyear research project to explore the CBDC design space and gain a hands-on understanding of a CBDC\u2019s technical challenges and opportunities<\/em>\u201d\u2014since the summer of 2020.<\/p>\n

The first fruit of that collaboration\u2014a report on Phase 1 of the project\u2014was released in 2022, resulting in new \u201clearnings<\/em>\u201d about the best way to design a CBDC and clearing the way for Phase 2, which, we are told, \u201cwill explore new functionality and alternative technical designs.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Venezuela<\/strong><\/p>\n

Although The Bahamas and Nigeria are now touted as the first countries to have a national CBDC in place, Venezuela launched its own \u201ccryptocurrency\u201d in 2018.<\/p>\n

Of course, it isn\u2019t really a cryptocurrency; it\u2019s a Central Bank Digital Currency. It\u2019s completely centralized, it\u2019s closed source and there\u2019s only one government-run block explorer and one government-issued official wallet. You might also recall that, in a remarkable coincidence, Venezuela introduced its social credit ID card\u2014the \u201cfatherland card<\/em>\u201d\u2014later that same year.<\/p>\n

Well, in case you were wondering, Venezuelans are continuing to be pushed off the digital cliff into technocratic tyranny. In 2022, President Maduro announced that the country\u2019s minimum wage would now be pegged to the digital currency.<\/p>\n

Author: James Corbett<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

yogaesoteric
\nMarch 15, 2023<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Way back in 2017 I created a country-by-country guide to the biometric ID control grid that was coming into view even then. In that editorial I noted that \u201cit doesn\u2019t take a Nostradamus to understand where this is all heading: From the cashless society and the biometric ID grid to the cashless biometric grid.\u201d Well, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[973],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-114022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncovering-freemasonsrys-manipulations-3480-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114022"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114022\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":114041,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114022\/revisions\/114041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}