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Basically it means that you'll have a bank account directly with the government. They'll be able to monitor every transaction you make from that account and blo
by ne0flex 5y ago
Basically it means that you'll have a bank account directly with the government. They'll be able to monitor every transaction you make from that account and block transactions on your account.
It'll also give the government the ability to add conditions to your money (ie. you need to spend X amount of yen / dollars this month or your money will expire and you'll lose it), or your money can only be spent at approved stores.
- cortesoft 5y agoThe government can do way worse than add conditions to your money. They can arrest you and put you in jail. They can already take all your money. They can take it no matter what form you put it n in.
- roywiggins 5y agoYes, one day India invalidated just about all their physical bills. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-37974423 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-37974423
- chii 5y ago> They can take it no matter what form you put it n in. tell that to criminals and money launderers!
- hogFeast 5y agoThis is specifically not what this is. Banks in Japan have a central role in the economy so the govt has no wish to remove the ability of banks to create money (they are also have a lot of political power). The digital currency will be backed by bank deposits, and the aim of this appears to be creating a interbank payments system that can run with lower costs.
- ac29 5y agoThe article says this is being run by a group of banks and other businesses, not the government.
- weikju 5y agoMaybe not exactly the same, but there is a lot of connection between them.
- threeseed 5y agoThis comment is the literal definition of FUD. The idea that a government or bank would expire your money is pretty hilarious.
- tastyfreeze 5y agoIt doesnt take much searching to find that is an actual proposed use case. https://www.google.com/search?q=cbdc+expire https://www.google.com/search?q=cbdc+expire It doesnt take much knowledge of history to know that giving government full control over individual's money is a very bad idea.
- threeseed 5y agoNo it's an idea and never concretely proposed. And governments already have full control over an individual's money.
- roywiggins 5y agoGovernments already have control over money by simply being able to choose what is and isn't legal to use. FDR outlawed private gold ownership. India banned cash: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-37974423 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-37974423
- matthewdgreen 5y agoGovernments have imperfect control over money. Outlawing private gold ownership and banning cash are two examples that are noteworthy because they were so extreme. Each created a huge amount of controversy and havoc, and also required leaders to obtain buy-in from legislators and other political figures. The point of many CBDC electronic currencies is to reduce the barriers to this control, so restrictions on currency (such as expiring currency) can be implemented with a few keystrokes on a computer rather than, say, requiring everyone to turn in their cash and jewelry.
- faichai 5y agoI think this has already happened in China. They provided digital RMB as a stimulus that expired if you didn’t use it. We’re all Mario now.
- narism 5y ago>It'll also give the government the ability to add conditions to your money Some of China’s experiments with digital RMB have already done this where the money they handed out had an expiration date. Japan as well with the GoToTravel/GoToEat stimulus campaigns where the money equivalent could only be used at certain hotels/restaurants.