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IMF Releases Digital Currency Handbook for World's Central Banks
Epoch Times ^ | 11/20/2023 | Naveen Athrappully

Posted on 11/21/2023 7:43:55 AM PST by george76

Central bank digital currencies can push the world away from depending on the U.S. dollar, the organization said. .

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) released a handbook for global central banks regarding the development and implementation of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

The IMF’s “Central Bank Digital Currency Virtual Handbook” published last week pointed out that the increased use of CBDCs can “reduce dollarization” of the global economy—a situation where countries move away from relying on the U.S. dollar as a reserve currency. De-dollarization would push up borrowing costs in the United States, making loans expensive for businesses and individuals, thus affecting economic growth. Stock market values can also crash, reducing the savings and investments of Americans.

In addition to de-dollarization, a CBDC “could increase risks of flight to safety from retail bank deposits in periods of market stress.” During times of market volatility, customers withdraw their deposits and move it into safe assets to avoid losing money in scenarios like bank collapses.

...

If CBDCs were available, pulling out funds from a bank and putting them in such assets will come across as a safe option for many people, thus triggering a bank run.

The organization pointed out that CBDCs could offer “a safe store of value and efficient means of payment, which can increase competition for deposit funding, raise banks’ share of wholesale funding, and lower bank profits.”

The IMF handbook was published as the organization’s Director Kristalina Georgieva promoted the use of CBDCs during the Singapore FinTech Festival on Nov. 15, arguing that such digital currencies could bring an end to the cash-based economy.

“CBDCs can replace cash, which is costly to distribute in island economies,” she said during a speech. “CBDCs would offer a safe and low-cost alternative to cash. They would also offer a bridge to go between private monies and a yardstick to measure their value, just like cash today, which we can withdraw from our banks.”

Back in May, Ms. Georgieva said that the world was heading towards widespread CBDC adoption without considering the risks involved in such a transition.

“What we are careful about is the choice between wholesale and retail CBDCs. We think that wholesale CBDCs can be put in place with fairly little space for undesirable surprises. Whereas retail CBDCs, they completely transform the financial system in a way that we don’t quite know what consequences it could bring,” she said during a discussion.

...

Wholesale CBDCs are meant to be used in interbank settlements as well as transactions between institutions and other market participants, while retail CBDCs are for use by the general population and other institutions.

A potential risk of retail CBDCs is that funds get pulled out from traditional commercial banks and deposited as CBDCs in central banks. The depletion of deposits will affect the lending ability of commercial banks, possibly worsening any banking crisis.

US Government CBDC..

While the IMF pushes ahead with the promotion of CBDCs, Republican lawmakers are taking steps to prevent the U.S. government from issuing such digital currencies. In September, Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) reintroduced the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act.

In a Sept. 12 press release, Mr. Emmer pointed out that unlike decentralized cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, CBDCs are designed and issued by a government “and [transact] on a digital ledger that is controlled by that government.” This could give the administration the power to “surveil Americans' transactions and choke out politically unpopular activity.”

The bill imposes the following prohibitions:

It prevents the U.S. Federal Reserve from issuing a CBDC directly to individuals, thus making sure that the Fed cannot mobilize itself as a retail bank and collect personal data of Americans.

It prohibits the Fed from indirectly issuing a CBDC to individuals via an intermediary, thereby blocking the central bank from launching a retail digital currency through a two-tiered financial system.

It bans the Fed from using any CBDC to implement its monetary policy. This ensures that the central bank is not able to use these currencies as a “tool to control the American economy.”

In March 2022, Joe Biden signed an executive order asking the Fed to continue its ongoing research and experimentation of CBDCs and to evaluate the benefits and risks of a digital dollar.

Talking about the issue, Mr. Emmer said that “agency reports to that executive order have made it clear that the Biden Administration is not only itching to create a CBDC, but they are willing to trade American’s right to financial privacy for a surveillance-style central bank digital currency.”

“We’re not going to let this happen,” he said. The CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act “ensures the United States digital currency policy is in the hands of the American people—not the Administrative State—so that it reflects our American values of privacy, individual sovereignty, and free market competitiveness.”

On Sept. 20, the House Financial Services Committee passed the bill.

Back in April, Federal Reserve Board member Michelle Bowman warned in a speech that a CBDC may pose “significant risks, challenges, and tradeoffs.”

There is a “risk that a CBDC would provide not only a window into, but potentially an impediment to, the freedom Americans enjoy in choosing how money and resources are used and invested.”

A CBDC could also lead to the politicization of the payments system, potentially undermining the independence of the Fed, Ms. Bowman said.

In May, Florida’s House of Representatives passed a bill banning the use of CBDCs in the state. The bill defined money to exclude CBDC. Weeks before the bill was passed, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had pointed to China as a potential example of how CBDCs could negatively affect people.

“Look no further than China, in seeing the impact of centralized digital currency,” he said. “The People’s Bank of China uses its central bank to monitor citizen behavior, allowing for the surveillance of spending habits and to cut off access to goods and services.”


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2030; agenda21; cbdc; cbdcs; centralbank; centralbanks; digital; digitalcurrencies; digitalcurrency; fed; federalreserve; greatreset; imf; unagenda21
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1 posted on 11/21/2023 7:43:55 AM PST by george76
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To: TEXOKIE; Whenifhow; Mr. Silverback; Alamo-Girl; abigailsmybaby; AbolishCSEU; ...

UN Agenda 21 , 2030 , Great Reset, ( Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from the list.)


2 posted on 11/21/2023 7:44:54 AM PST by george76 (Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
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To: george76

Digital currencies = one more Freedom gone


3 posted on 11/21/2023 7:45:27 AM PST by butlerweave
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To: butlerweave

Digital currencies = all freedom gone.

If you want to eat you will have to obey your masters.


4 posted on 11/21/2023 7:48:41 AM PST by cgbg ("Creative minds have always been known to survive any kind of bad training." Anna Freud.)
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To: george76

Total control.

I can’t believe people put up with this crap.


5 posted on 11/21/2023 7:48:51 AM PST by Red6
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To: george76

Dirty bastids.


6 posted on 11/21/2023 7:51:33 AM PST by moovova ("The NEXT election is the most important election of our lifetimes!“ LOL...)
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To: george76

A high altitude nuclear blast may knock some sense into those pushing for this crap...


7 posted on 11/21/2023 7:53:04 AM PST by BobL (I eat at McDonald's and shop at Walmart, I just don't tell anyone)
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To: butlerweave

So, we are getting rid of the dollar because we owe $33000000000000, and the interest alone is too much now. Can some one check my math, I may have left off a zero or two.


8 posted on 11/21/2023 7:53:20 AM PST by armourenthusiast (I capitalize everything related to South)
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To: george76

A simple technical glitch and you can’t buy anything.

A deliberate act against you by an anonymous bureaucrat and you lose access to all your money and no way to prove you even HAD the money. You won’t even know who did this or whom to contact to reverse it.

If you ever tried to use a debit and credit card and it did not work, you have learned about “digital money.”

Digital money is tyranny. It can starve you and your family to death and trap you in a prison from which there is no escape.

Without REAL money, your heat can be turned off for non-payment of your bill. You can’t buy groceries. You can’t pay rent or mortgage. You can’t buy fuel for your vehicle. You can’t buy an airline ticket. You can’t rent a hotel room. You can’t buy a meal in a restaurant. You can’t even borrow money from a relative or friend for short-term survival.


9 posted on 11/21/2023 8:04:27 AM PST by Gnome1949
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To: george76

It seems like somebody will periodically have to pop off EMPs to ensure that every transaction evermore doesn’t go completely digital and forever trackable.


10 posted on 11/21/2023 8:05:20 AM PST by glorgau
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To: george76

Get the mark or no food for you!


11 posted on 11/21/2023 8:07:05 AM PST by rktman (Destroy America from within? Check! WTH? Enlisted USN 1967 to end up with this💩? 🚫💉! 🇮🇱👍!)
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To: Gnome1949

It seems like you figured out The Plan. Remember those 90,000 extra IRS agents Biden gets? They’ll come after those who give away the The Plan too early.


12 posted on 11/21/2023 8:11:24 AM PST by BipolarBob (My terrorist policy is Pro Death.)
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To: Gnome1949

Clarity!!! BTTT!


13 posted on 11/21/2023 8:13:50 AM PST by Pagey ( Valerie Jarrett IS A DEMON! )
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To: george76
“CBDCs would offer a safe and low-cost alternative to cash.

I guess in the fact that you won't get physically mugged for cash, but nothing is stopping the banks from pulling a Trudeau and virtually robbing you.

14 posted on 11/21/2023 8:22:47 AM PST by metmom (He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.)
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To: BobL

Yep.


15 posted on 11/21/2023 8:30:06 AM PST by goodnesswins ( We pretend to vote and they pretend to count the votes.)
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To: george76

““Look no further than China, in seeing the impact of centralized digital currency,” he said. “The People’s Bank of China uses its central bank to monitor citizen behavior, allowing for the surveillance of spending habits and to cut off access to goods and services.””

We already have this. It’s called GOOGLE.


16 posted on 11/21/2023 8:30:35 AM PST by UCANSEE2 (Lost my tagline on flight MH370)
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To: armourenthusiast

The amount we ‘owe’ is inconsequential. The principal is never paid back nor is it expected to be because it was no more than numbers written on a piece of paper.

It’s the INTEREST that they demand, and must be paid.


17 posted on 11/21/2023 8:39:32 AM PST by UCANSEE2 (Lost my tagline on flight MH370)
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To: george76

“De-dollarization would push up borrowing costs in the United States, making loans expensive for businesses and individuals, thus affecting economic growth.”

An assumption without a strong foudaion and one that presumes the treasury and the fed are incapable of adjusting to “de-dollarization” and mitigating its effects.

For example: In response to any change in international demand for dollars, or dollar denominated transactions, the treasury and the fed are fully capable of adjusting the dollar supply, globally, to adjust for any change in demand; and thus help stabilize the dollar value in spite of those changes.


18 posted on 11/21/2023 8:59:50 AM PST by Wuli ( ,)
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To: Gnome1949
Without REAL money, your heat can be turned off for non-payment of your bill. You can’t buy groceries. You can’t pay rent or mortgage. You can’t buy fuel for your vehicle. You can’t buy an airline ticket. You can’t rent a hotel room. You can’t buy a meal in a restaurant.

Many of the above mentioned expenses won't take cash. Try paying your utilities via phone or internet in cash. Grocery stores have Self-Checkout lanes with a NO CASH sign on them.

I'm not saying I agree with it, just that we are already half way there.

As far as having 'money' in the bank and taking it out to spend as cash.... the bank can keep your money, not allowing you to withdraw ANY of it as cash, and there isn't a darn thing you can do about it.

Tomorrow your bank could tell you your account is at $0.00 and they have decided to keep the money you had in their funds. After all, you willingly GAVE it to them and ALLOWED them to use and invest it as they see fit.

Everyone believes that banks have to give you the 'money' in your account upon demand. Well, that is not true.

19 posted on 11/21/2023 9:00:14 AM PST by UCANSEE2 (Lost my tagline on flight MH370)
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To: glorgau
It seems like somebody will periodically have to pop off EMPs to ensure that every transaction evermore doesn’t go completely digital and forever trackable.

One thing you can be sure of. Those in the financial system have ensured that EMP's will not affect the equipment used to store completely digital and forever trackable information.

Besides that, were there to be large enough EMP's to critically wound our financial system, we'd all be dead in a week or two anyway.

20 posted on 11/21/2023 9:09:46 AM PST by UCANSEE2 (Lost my tagline on flight MH370)
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