“If introduced, it would exist alongside, and be easily exchangeable with, cash and bank deposits”
What they aren’t saying, is that by a decree, they will make the “digital pound” the only legal tender. You’ll have 30 days to look under mattresses and in old coat pockets to find all your banknotes and turn them in at the bank. Of course, you’ll need to present identification so that they can ask you where you got all that cash, and you’ll forfeit anything over a certain amount.
A few months after everything’s digital, you’ll find that it’s not just a convenient way to pay, but that the government has total access to and control over your money. Your social media postings will be monitored, and any time you don’t parrot the official “truth” you’ll see your balance reduced.
For the ultimate “crime,” such as misgendering a “trans,” or claiming that masks don’t work, or going to a Latin Mass, they’ll just freeze your account. You will become a non-person, and essentially condemned to death.
>You’ll have 30 days to look under mattresses and in old coat pockets to find all your banknotes and turn them in at the bank.
Nope. Precious metals. Pb, Ag, Au.