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25th November 2021 > > CBDCs.


tl;dr

The Bank of England fails to justify the use of Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).


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Market Wrap

Some on-chain metrics are looking positive for BTC. Advanced NVT (a measure of market cap and 90-day MA of network volume) is “deep into oversold territory” and is the lowest since the start of 2020, excluding those few days of COVID market nonsense.


Glassnode also points out the short-term holders (STH) own the smallest amount of BTC in three years, suggesting accumulation. There is correlation (not causation) between low STH supply and the start of bull markets, but that could just be historical coincidence.


And a quick note on XEUS – myself and at least one other person I know are having trouble accessing the site, but the discord community says otherwise. Performance may be -100% by tomorrow morning …


Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs)

On Tuesday, Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey and deputy governor for financial stability Sir Jon Cunliffe answered questions in front of the Economic Affairs Committee.


Naturally, the topic of cryptos, stablecoins, and the poisoned chalice of CBDCs garnered some attention. Let’s look at some of the comments on these three topics.


With respect to cryptos, Sir Jon’s advisors do not seem to have briefed him particularly well:


"It's quite difficult to predict how innovators will take money and actually use money going forward. But we are starting to see programmable money being used in the crypto world. And I would expect we would see a similar revolution in the functionality of money driven by technology."


I have never seen the phrase “programmable money” before now. What does it mean? And when he talks about a similar revolution to which earlier revolution is he referring? His comment is all just faff and nonsense. This lack of knowledge and comprehension of the biggest technological revolution since the invention of the wheel at the highest levels of banking supervision is a touch concerning.


With respect to stablecoins, he morphs straight away into a justification for the monstrosity of CBDCs:


"I think we have two choices broadly. Is it going to evolve to some world of (asset-) backed stablecoins which has money-like features which could be regulated? I must say ... I am sceptical about that. "Or ... is the better contribution, particularly to financial stability, to say the better alternative to that may be a central bank currency of digital form?"


Central bankers the world over have taken a severe dislike to stablecoins, seeing them as a direct competitor to their own plans to introduce CBDCs. Remember, CBDCs allow governments direct control over citizens’ finances. They can track your spending, make financial decisions on your behalf, and remove your own money at the push of a button. These are the basic building blocks of a totalitarian nightmare.


Cognisant that no sane or rational person would grant this much control and power to a government or its agencies, Sir Jon goes on to make a ridiculous claim for the benefit of CBDCs:


"At the moment cross-border payments are slow, unreliable and expensive. They're stuck somewhere between the 1960s and the 1950s, I'm not sure exactly where.”


What utter rot.


I can transfer sterling from my UK bank account to Revolut, exchange sterling for Euros instantly at mid-market with NO fees (that kind of puts the FX booths at airports charging 15% of notional to shame), transfer to my French bank account, and pay for goods or services in France in Euros. All of this happens in less than five minutes.


The only bit of the banking world that is stuck somewhere between the 1960s and the 1950s is Sir Jon Cunliffe himself.

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