Money is something that affects the lives of every human being. There is a monetary shift coming, and when it gets here, your life will change.
I’m speaking of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). These are digital currencies that will be issued by the central banks of our respective nations.
Dovetailing CBDCs is an initiative lead by the World Economic Forum called The Great Reset. The agenda of the Great Reset is to rebuild society and the world economy after the COVID-19 pandemic ends. In the past week (Feb 15th-22nd, 2022) I argue that we are seeing a glimpse of what our eventual CBDCs will look like when they’re deployed in society at large.
I had a comment recently that my letters have become political. My aim is always to provide my readers with value, knowledge, and perspective on current events. The events that have been transpiring recently are political in nature, and in my opinion, have a major effect on how I use cryptocurrencies. Depending on your situation, you may also want to use similar levels of caution when dealing with cryptocurrencies. I aim to give a perspective on how I think these events will change my crypto strategy and the monetary/economic landscape in the future.
The Great Reset Conspiracy
The Great Reset is a real thing, spoken about openly and publicly by the World Economic Forum. The CEO of WEF, Klaus Schwab, published a book called the great reset. At this point, I acknowledge that there is a “conspiracy theory” in the cultural zeitgeist around the Great Reset. The conspiracy states that the Great Reset is part of a larger plutocratic agenda to control the world population.
Plutocracy — An elite or ruling class whose power derives from their wealth.
While I don’t necessarily think this is a “plan” organized by financial elites, I think a plutocratic society is the result of the implementation of CBDCs and the Great Reset.
In order to make my point, I don’t actually think I need to invoke any notion of conspiracy within my arguments contained in this letter.
CBDCs and Programmable Money
Regardless of your views of Joe Rogan, I recommend you listen to a recent episode wherein he has a discussion with an individual by the name of Maajid Nawaz. The two discuss a wide range of topics loosely centered around politics and power. One of the discussions is about the Great Reset, and what a CBDC could be.
Maajid quotes an article from the Telegraph in 2021.
“Digital cash could be programmed to ensure that it is only spent on essentials or goods which an employer or government deems to be sensible.”
This ability to program money is definitely going to happen. In a lot of ways, that is what cryptocurrencies are. Maajid goes on to rightfully point out that at this point, the digital currency is not money at all; it is a voucher.
Money is the object that can be traded for any other good or service in a society.
A money wherein a third party has control over how that money is spent, is not money.
There are a number of issues with having a money that is designed this way.
A employer should not be able to determine how/when/why you spend money
A government should not be able to determine how/when/why you spend money.
Who defines what an “essential” good or service is?
Who defines what a “sensible” good or service is?
I see a CBDC that has these capabilities built-in as a recipe for the abuse of power. There is simply too much subjectivity built into the discretionary power to regulate the spending of individuals within a society.
I will never use a CBDC that is designed this way. To make matters more problematic, I am not certain that the populous will be given the transparency to determine whether or not these capabilities have been integrated into our respective CBDCs.
This is why I think it is important for everyone to have a non-zero amount of the form of money that is most resistant to centralized control and censorship; Bitcoin.
Financial Censorship in Canada
This leads me to talk about what happened in Canada last week. The events are still unfolding, but as I write this letter, Canada has extended the Emergency Measures Act despite “successfully” disbanding the protests in Ottawa.
The Finance Minister of Canada, Chrystia Freeland, made a statement to the public telling them that the government of Canada intends on making the capital control clauses of the Emergency Measures Act permanent.
The result of these measures include the freezing and seizing of bank accounts. Anyone that has donated to the Freedom Convoy Protests is likely at risk of investigation as a person who donated $50 had her account frozen.
Additionally, Canadian authorities have contacted cryptocurrency exchanges and instructed them to block any withdrawals/deposits to/from a list of 34 cryptocurrency addresses.
While the addresses themselves, as well as P2P transfers, cannot be stopped, exchanges act as a gateway to be able to sell the BTC for CAD and use it within the Canadian economy.
Two CEOs (Jesse Powell and Brian Armstrong) of prominent cryptocurrency exchanges (Kraken and Coinbase) released statements to their user base on Twitter.
Each statement endorses the use of self-custody wallets which no authority has the ability to control. The Ontario Securities and Exchanges Commission sent the tweets to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) earlier today. Whether or not the CEOs are under investigation is yet to be determined.
Both CEOs have also said that if they were asked to freeze and/or seize accounts, they would have no choice but to comply.
The Nunchuck Wallet Email
A company that builds a non-custodial wallet received a message from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ordering Nunchuck to disclose details about their users. Those details include the existence, nature, value, and location of money held on Nunchuck wallets.
What this demonstrates to me is that the Canadian Authorities have yet to fully grasp the implication of non-custodial wallets.
Summary
There is a plan to reshape the world economy, this plan is called The Great Reset.
This plan includes the implementation and deployment of CBDCs.
We now have a direct example of the kind of financial treatment people will receive if they show dissent against their government.
CBDCs only make this sort of financial censorship and capital control easier for authorities to implement, if those features/capabilities are built into the CBDC.
We can assume that authorities are still grappling with the nature of non-custodial wallets and peer to peer transactions.
Moving Forward
These events make me very nervous in general. I do not want to live in a world wherein someone else can tell me how/when to spend my money, and what to spend it on.
Just like Bitcoin in general is being politicized, I see a day in the future wherein self-custody wallets are politicized and banned. Cryptocurrency exchanges may be forced to ban the withdrawal of cryptocurrencies from the platform.
This would in turn mean that any cryptocurrency you are holding on that exchange can only be sold back into the fiat currency of your respective country.
From Maajid’s point of view, this all leads to a social credit system mirroring the one that China has already implemented. Chinese authorities already have the power to alter how you spend money, and what you spend it on, depending on your social credit score.
This is exactly what is being openly discussed in forums and conferences organized by the World Economic Forum.
Mind you, this is happening today in Canada. People are having their finances tampered with based on their political values and affiliations. This is not a good power for any authority to have.
Why this power should not exist
The power to tamper with the spending behaviour of free citizens is not something I can get behind. Not because I don’t agree with how the power was used in the instance of the Freedom Convoy, but because I don’t know how future governments will use the same capability.
This is the same reason why I unequivocally support free speech. Censorship of speech may be used today to silence someone you don’t agree with. But tomorrow, you might be the person targeted by a different government with the same power to silence.
Today the liberals are in power in Canada. When the conservatives win a future election, do you want them to use the same power to control the spending of Canadians?
I Reject CBDCs
I will be rejecting any CBDC that is not implemented with transparency in mind. Bitcoin proves that we can have a monetary system that is both transparent and secure.
There is no excuse of “security” for keeping things confidential with respect to the implementation of our financial system. I would be ready to use a CBDC to transact in a country if it was clear to me that there weren’t any hidden switches that restricted my ability to spend.
If these assurances cannot be provided, then I will continue to speak out against them, as I believe the ability to spend is essential to the facilitation of an individual’s daily life.
Regards,
Keegan
great article, not enough subscribers!!
This is incredible, im so glad other people who live in Halifax are on the same page as I am. Everyone I talk to about The Great Reset, crypto, etc. just thinks im some crazy conspiracy theorist. It’s crazy times right now, keep up the great work!