Only 16% of Americans Support the Government Issuing a Central Bank Digital Currency
Despite the mangled headline (only a “central bank” can issue *central bank* digital currency (CBDC)) this Cato survey contains some interesting statistical nuggets. It found that, while only 16% of Americans polled support a digital dollar, 49% haven’t even formed an opinion, and 34% oppose it. A majority opposes a digital dollar that would allow the government to monitor their spending (68%) or control how they spend (74%). On fears that the government could potentially do either of these things, 76% of those polled said that the government should forbid the Fed from issuing a digital dollar. There are interesting differences between CBDC opinions of those who identify as Republicans (right leaning) and Democrats (left leaning) with the former being more wary of CBDC across all of the permutations and combinations of questions. [Read more at Cato]
CBDC Manifesto (https://cbdcmanifesto.com)
Fears of government spending controls and monitoring may be assuaged if CBDC enabling legislation reflects the first three of the five tenets of the CBDC Manifesto:
1. A retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) should have a strong value proposition (SVP) and tangible benefits for citizens. The decision process should start with identifying the problem(s) to be solved with CBDC and evaluating all alternative solutions. The CBDC option should be chosen only if it has a compelling value proposition relative to the best alternatives. If the CBDC option is chosen, SVPs to other digital forms of money are essential. To drive adoption, it is not sufficient to offer a new means of payment that has the same features as today’s means of payment.
Potential SVPs of CBDCs for users are high privacy guarantees, both online and offline capabilities with no need for later third-party approval or validation, low risk as a digital form of default-resistant central bank money, and CBDC value units as part of an independent, sovereign, and sanction-resistant payment infrastructure to ensure monetary sovereignty in uncertain times. For merchants, the SVPs are lower fees than for currently-existing means of payments and instant settlement. For companies/industry features for programmable payments and the use of smart contracts are SVPs.
2. A CBDC should provide the highest degree of privacy. In this context, a CBDC should supply technically guaranteed privacy by design and by default, without the need to trust the central bank to preserve privacy. The CBDC can be utilized, ideally, by anonymous payments for small- and medium-sized transactions.
3. A CBDC should not be designed in a way to do harm to society, e.g., via very negative interest rates, or via so-called programmable money that restricts the use of money for specific types of expenditures (e.g., special food and beverages, computer games etc.) or that expires after a certain amount of time. A CBDC should be based on principles of self-determination and freedom.
4. The development of a CBDC should follow a collaborative approach involving all stakeholders (central banks, financial institutions, associations, end-users, companies, researchers, etc.) and have a well-defined governance system. The design and development processes should be transparent, public, and open. Ideally, a CBDC should be open-source and use open-source technology to increase transparency.
5. The CBDC should exhibit technical, regulatory and usage interoperability, both locally and globally.
*For those interested in intra-day updates, check out my searchable Diigo Fintech developments database, which is also a good place to go to query for past developments: https://www.diigo.com/user/kiffmeister/ART.
Upcoming conferences, webinars and speaking engagements:
- I’ll be participating in Currency Research’s in-person Central Bank Payments Conference and Global Payments Summit in Cape Town from June 26 to 30. [Register here and here respectively]
- I’ll be lecturing at the Digital Euro Association (DEA) Digital Money Academy on July 27, 2023. [Register here]
Kiffmeister’s global central bank digital currency monthly monitor
Just a reminder that I produce a monthly digest of central bank digital currency (CBDC) developments exclusively for the official sector. So for any of you out there who work for a central bank, ministry of finance or international financial institution who would like to receive it by email on the first business day of every month, please DM me on LinkedIn or email me at chronicles@kiffmeister.com.
The Sovereign Official Digital Association (SODA) is a technology-agnostic firm offering advisory services at the intersection of central banking, digital finance and the web3 industry, aiming to make public digital money a reality. SODA believes institutions in the existing financial ecosystem should have access to the tools and resources they need to move from discussion to action. SODA offers ‘real life’ use cases to help test digital money and drive adoption as central banks and other public institutions explore the future of a more financially inclusive world powered by interoperable blockchain-based networks. SODA would love you to join us on this journey – please get in touch (chris@sodapublicmoney.org).
Satoshi Capital Advisors is a New York-based, global advisory firm that works with central banks, governments, and the private sector to architect, implement, and operate varying initiatives. Satoshi Capital Advisors’ central bank work revolves around CBDC architecture and implementation, providing advisory services from research phase through to growth phase. Utilizing a product-market fit and technology agnostic approach to CBDC architecture and implementation enables Satoshi Capital Advisors to build tailored solutions, bespoke to local financial system nuances. Satoshi Capital Advisors welcomes requests from central bank officials for virtual and in-person CBDC workshops. [Click here for more information]
WhisperCash offers the first fully offline digital currency platform that has the same properties as physical cash. It can perform secure consecutive offline payments without compromising on security, privacy or accessibility. WhisperCash allows direct person to person offline payments without any server infrastructure or internet connectivity. It comes in various form factors including the self-contained credit card-sized “Pro” that sports an eInk screen and capacitive keyboard, and lasts for two weeks between recharges assuming a few transactions per day. [Click here for more information]