8th March 2024 > > US CBDC & Gensler.

tl;dr

The US leads the fight against CBDCs. Gensler continues to prevaricate, or is he being deliberately obstructive?

Market Snap

Market Wrap

An attempted breach of $68k overnight was unsuccessful. As we head into the weekend – with no ETF buying for two whole days – I guess we are waiting until next week for the fireworks.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – The US and CBDCs

Credit where credit is due, sometimes the technocrats do get it right.

Jerome Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve, testified yesterday before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Senator Cynthis Lummis expressed concerns that the Fed might create a USD CBDC “without legislative authorisation”. Her concerns are valid – Joe Biden signed an executive order over two years ago demanding that the Fed puts in the groundwork for a CBDC.

Fortunately, he seems to have been ignored. Over to you Jerome:

“I want to say that we’re nowhere near recommending or let alone adopting a central bank digital currency in any form.”

“People don’t need to worry about a central bank digital currency, nothing like that is remotely close to happening anytime soon.”

“… the Fed … is a very long way from even thinking about it (a CBDC)”.

His well-founded accusation that the Yuan CBDC will be used as a surveillance and behaviour modification tool by the Chinese government was contrasted with the US:

“That’s just something we would not stand for, or do, or propose here in the United States.”

And he stated once again that without legislation from both Houses – which won’t happen – the Fed will never develop a CBDC.

This is the sort of moral leadership the world needs to see.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – The SEC

Chair of the SEC, Gary Gensler. continues to obfuscate as to whether – in his opinion – ETH is a security or a commodity.

In an interview with Bloomberg TV, and in light of the mounting number of spot ETH ETFs clogging up his in-tray, Gensler doubled down on citing the Howey Test to determine if something is a security or not, without giving his own opinion:

“On any one of these crypto tokens, it’s about the facts and circumstances as to whether the investing public is anticipating a profit based on the efforts of others.”

If you want to watch a technocrat who doesn’t understand the meaning of moral leadership then either of these links will keep you entertained:

https://twitter.com/DROPZXRP/status/1765667646509388024

https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2023/04/19/sec-chair-gensler-declines-to-say-if-ether-is-a-security-in-contentious-congressional-hearing/

Recorded five years apart, Gensler is consistent in not being able to make up his own mind on a question which gets to the heart of his job and responsibilities. This is troubling for everyone.