31st March 2022 > > Digital "ECASH".

tl;dr

Digital “ECASH” may slay the Central Bank Digital Currency dragon.

Market Snap (at time of writing)

Market Wrap

BTC treading water below the critically important $50k level. Western newspapers armed with the freedom to report news as they see fit – in stark contrast to places like Russia, China, North Korea, Iran etc. – are increasingly pondering the likelihood of a mutiny against Putin led by the army generals.

The obvious benefit of such an event is that this would rid the world of an evil man. We must also bear in mind that such news would likely lead to a rally to all-time highs for stock markets, with associated pleasingly positive price action for cryptos.

Occasional Series – Sir Keir Starmer and women’s rights

Sir Keir states publicly that he “supports women’s rights”.

Sr Keir refuses to elaborate on his understanding of the word woman.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – Digital "ECASH"

So here is an interesting twist to an ongoing story.

It demonstrates that not all politicians are as controlling and narcissistic as one might expect. And I think we can all agree that is a remarkable statement coming from someone who is as sceptical as I am about any government, and admittedly proud about being so.

…

Long-term subscribers to the CCC are familiar with my critical stance regarding Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), but for the record, let me summarise my main concerns.

CBDCs can never be described as crypto. They may use blockchain technology, but as the ledger will be totally centralised the core benefits of the blockchain concept – its immutability in a trustless world – are lost, making the use of blockchain tech for CBDCs utterly redundant for the user experience.

The only reason we discuss CBDCs here in the CCC is that most of the world, and certainly all of those who do not understand the basics, assumes they are cryptos. Don’t make that mistake.

However, the blockchain tech does give the authorities unprecedented and granular insight into individuals’ spending patterns and habits.

Every single CDBC dollar can be tracked at all times, a feature that even the most liberal government in the world will be hard pressed to not take advantage of.

Further, the government will be able to make spending decisions on your behalf.

Too many beers in the pub one night, and you could find your CDBC dollars blocked from being used in any pub the next day, or even later that evening. Fancy a flutter, the government can decide how much you are allowed to bet on a horse race. Not buying enough vegetables, you may find yourself unable to buy that white plastic-like bread which is a vital ingredient in right proper eggy bread.

Finally, at a stroke, the government could simply rewrite the ledger and remove 50% of your CBDC wealth if it so wished, on the grounds that this new type of theft is not so very far removed from general taxation.

…

There are other problems with CBDCs but that is probably enough to be getting on with, except for one final observation.

The country most advanced with implementing CBDCs is China. The genocidal rulers of that country desire total control and power over the population. CBDCs offer a direct route to that objective.

…

But back to the topic of today - digital “ECASH”.

On Monday last a new bill was introduced by a group of U.S. lawmakers authorising the U.S. Treasury Department, not the Federal Reserve, to create a digital dollar. The “Electronic Currency and Secure Hardware Act” (handily abbreviated to ECASH Act) is quite simply a revelation.

The act incorporates a requirement to preserve privacy and anonymity in transactions.

Let’s repeat that sentence again.

The act incorporates a requirement to preserve privacy and anonymity in transactions.

Wow.

…

This electronic dollar, held on a phone or on a physical card, would replicate a real-world dollar.

Classified as legal tender, it would be a bearer instrument meaning that if you lost your card or phone, you would lose the dollars, as you would do today if you lose your wallet.

Rohan Grey, assistant professor at Willamette University who was involved in drafting the bill, explains:

“We’re proposing to have a genuine cash-like bearer instrument, a token-based system that doesn't have either a centralized ledger or distributed ledger because it has no ledger whatsoever. It uses secured hardware software and it's issued by the Treasury.”

…

This a remarkably liberal approach which deserves plaudits.

Life has suddenly got so much harder for proponents of CBDCs in all Western liberal democracies.