Free Republic

In an interview with Handelsblatt, Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel dismissed criticism and concerns surrounding the digital euro. The possibility that the project could ultimately evolve into a form of capital control appears to play virtually no role either in banking circles or in government-aligned media. The digital euro ranks among the most ambitious projects within the political architecture of the European Union. As the Eurosystem and the EU increasingly merge into identical and integrated political spaces, it can no longer be denied that this CBDC project is primarily a geopolitical power play by Brussels. Yet the euro-CBDC -- shorthand for...

For years, China has built what many observers have described as the most extensive surveillance network in human history. Now, thanks to rapid advances in artificial intelligence, that network is evolving into something far more powerful--and far more concerning. According to recent reporting from the Financial Times, Chinese authorities are upgrading their already vast surveillance infrastructure with advanced AI systems capable of analyzing behavior, identifying individuals, predicting crowd activity, and even anticipating potential social unrest before it occurs. This is no longer simply about cameras watching street corners. It is about creating a real-time digital map of an entire society....

Greece is ushering in a significant overhaul of its rental system, with new legislation set to eliminate cash rent payments entirely and move all transactions into the banking system. From April 1, 2026, tenants across the country will be required to pay rent exclusively through electronic means, in a move designed to improve transparency, combat undeclared income, and bring the housing market in line with modern financial practices. End of cash-in-hand rent The new rules mean that cash payments between tenants and landlords will no longer be legally recognised under any circumstances. Whether renting a city apartment, a holiday home,...

How Central Banks Plan to Control You | Catherine Fitts Interesting talk about money and power. Would like freeper input. What is to stop people from banding together and forming private bank entities like the Chinese do on chinatowns?

Say "NO!" to a Global Digital ID

One of the European Central Bank’s most complex and controversial projects is heading for a crucial test in the first half of 2026, when the European parliament is expected to vote on the digital euro. The plan cleared a key hurdle in late December, when the European Council backed the ECB’s plan to launch an electronic equivalent to cash: a digital currency that works in stores, online and in peer-to-peer transactions. One of the European Central Bank’s most complex and controversial projects is heading for a crucial test in the first half of 2026, when the European parliament is expected...

More than 2.8 million Brits have signed a petition as of Wednesday, calling on the U.K. government to reverse its mandatory Digital ID system over concerns it will lead to "mass surveillance and digital control." The ID program, dubbed "Brit Card" and announced last week by U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, is set to be rolled out by August 2029 in an attempt by the Labour government to crack down on illegal immigration as it would bar anyone who doesn’t have a digital ID from working in the U.K. But critics of the plan argue its effects on illegal immigration...

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming the economy, boosting productivity while simultaneously threatening widespread job displacement. As AI progresses, a growing number of workers face unemployment or precarious employment, fueling political pressure for Universal Basic Income (UBI)—typically understood as unconditional payments aiming to guarantee a basic standard of living. However, behind this policy response lies a fundamental truth: income provided by UBI is redistributed wealth, funded predominantly by taxing others. Taken to its fullest extent, this scenario envisions UBI becoming the total income for many individuals, fundamentally transforming the economy’s reliance from earned wages toward government transfers. Traditional UBI proponents...

AlongID is a global digital ID. AlongID is a cross-border digital identity platform developed by international software company Deverium. The platform is currently in its early validation phase and will be showcased next week at GITEX Global, the world’s largest technology and AI exhibition, targeting policymakers and investors. Deverium (stylised as “deverium”) is a global software development company founded in 2019 by Erika Maslauskaite, Edvardas Maslauskas and Darius Liubinas. It is a privately held company registered in Lithuania with offices in Lithuania, the United Kingdom and Sweden. The company is known for its work in digital transformation, with flagship projects...

Online ID verification causes friction for customers more often than not, yet identity theft makes up 40 percent of Europe’s online fraud. Digital identity can work simply and deliver trust like payment cards, however, says Mastercard. The EU Digital Identity Wallet is in part a recognition of this issue, according to a post by Mastercard EVP for Services Europe Michele Centemero, who sees an opportunity for digital ID to work more like his company’s forte, digital payments. Mastercard supports the EUDI Wallet program as an advisor to the EU’s NOBID project, and a partner in the WE BUILD Consortium. The...

Dutch lawyer Arno van Kessel was leading a civil lawsuit against Bill Gates, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, and Klaus Schwab over alleged COVID vaccine-related crimes, he was recently arrested by Dutch special forces in a late-night raid and jailed without formal charges.

A proposed GOP ban on a central bank digital currency (CBDC) could pump the brakes on grand visions to reshape electronic payment access around the Federal Reserve. Republican lawmakers pushed the ban through the House on Thursday over concerns the government could use a CBDC to surveil Americans’ financial transactions. The banking industry has also lobbied against the currency, arguing the public already has sufficient access to easily usable and safe digital money.“Nobody yet knows whether a CBDC is a good idea or not,” Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), who has pushed for the government to explore a CBDC, said following...

He has no experience of elective office. He won by the narrowest of margins, and hasn’t even spent much of his recent career in his own country. Canadians took a huge leap of faith yesterday in voting for Mark Carney as their next prime minister at a moment in their history when the American president Donald Trump has imposed huge tariffs on their country and even threatened to annex it. Still, at least they can reassure themselves that Carney’s vast experience as Governor of the Bank of England means he is a safe pair of hands. But there is one...

On the to-do list of the progressives setting out the steps needed to perfect the world, right at the top we find “Get Rid of Cash.” That makes total sense. Use of cash for financial transactions is the source and enabler of human sin and failing almost without limit. Our free exchange (aka “capitalist”) system gives rise to endless varieties of undesirable activities, ranging from the criminal to the sketchy to the non-virtuous to the icky. If only we had a world without cash, all transactions could be forced onto electronic payment systems where they could be continuously monitored by...

Cash is dead. Speech is scored. Freedom is conditional.. ... Mark Carney didn’t rise through politics. He was not elected. He was installed — by the very institutions that profit most from technocratic control and public obedience. Goldman Sachs. The Bank of Canada. The Bank of England. The Financial Stability Board. The World Economic Forum. Bilderberg. The Trilateral Commission. The Council for Inclusive Capitalism. This is a man who has spent his entire adult life inside the machinery of global finance and elite governance. Now, he’s running a country. Carney is no fool. He speaks in the hushed tones of...

"What this is all about is an attempt to change the face of our country..." The Irish government has frozen the bank account of an Irish teacher after his continued refusal to use gender-neutral pronouns for a student at Wilson’s Hospital School. Enoch Burke, who has spent more than 500 days in jail for refusing to comply with a court order, also had his salary payments halted. Burke attempted to withdraw funds from his Bank of Ireland account last week but found that he was unable to access his money. The account reportedly holds over €40,000—his personal savings from years...

President Trump Signs Executive Order To Ban Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC). As I have been warning and appeared in the movie CBDC, the End of Money, that it would have been unconstitutional for the Federal Reserve to create a CBDC, and my sources had confirmed that the Fed would not make a CBDC. This is important that chalks one up for the people – retaining our freedom. This means that there will be no digital dollar and the end of Kaus Schwab’s dream of you will own nothing and be happy. A CBDC was to be programmable where the...

WASHINGTON—A post on a hacker forum popular with cybercriminals has claimed UnitedHealth Group paid $22 million in a bid to recover access to data and systems encrypted by the “Blackcat” ransomware gang, according to two researchers. Neither UnitedHealth nor the hackers involved have commented on the alleged ransom payment, but a cryptocurrency tracing firm partially corroborated the claim on Monday. It is not uncommon for large companies that have been victimized by ransomware gangs to decide to pay the hackers to regain control of their networks, especially in instances where a significant disruption to customers and partners occurred. The forum...

For three weeks, 85,000 Yotta customers with a combined $112 million in savings have been locked out of their accounts, CEO and co-founder Adam Moelis ... The disruption, caused by a dispute between fintech middleman Synapse and Tennessee-based Evolve Bank & Trust, has upended lives... “We never imagined a scenario like this could play out and that no regulator would step in and help,” . ... his company has been a source of deep pain for thousands of customers who relied on Yotta accounts to receive paychecks, pay bills and save for emergencies. The crisis began May 11, when a...

I was sitting beside a lake recently, admiring the beautiful autumn sunset and thanking God for the serenity of that place, the beauty of His creation and the peace in that tiny part of the world I was sitting in. It was still warm out for this time of year in Wisconsin; an “Indian summer,” but the falling leaves will soon give way to falling snow. And I believe the Holy Spirit spoke a single, simple word to me: “Remember.” “Remember this time of serenity, beauty and peace in this place, because it won’t always be this way, and things...