CBDC Can be Used to Spy on Citizens: Congressman

Congressman Tom Emmer of the United States thinks that the introduction of a customizable central bank digital currency (CBDC) could compromise American residents’ financial privacy.

Emmer claimed that the configurable CBDC might be “easily weaponized” as an eavesdropping device to “choke out politically unpopular activity” in a speech given on March 9 at the Cato Institute, a republican think tank in Washington, D.?C. 

Emmer added that “as the federal government seeks to maintain and expand financial control to which it has grown accustomed, the idea of the central bank digital currency has gained traction within the institutions of power in the United States as a government-controlled programmable money that can be easily weaponized into a surveillance tool.”

CBC Anti-Surveillance Act

To block the development of the Digital Dollar Project, which has undergone significant changes in the manner in which it will be utilized since the revised version of its white paper was published in January of this year, the Minnesota congressman proposed the CBDC Anti-Surveillance Act on February 22. 

He stated: 

“Recent actions from the Biden Administration make it clear that they are not only itching to create a digital dollar but they are willing to trade Americans’ right to financial privacy for the surveillance-style CBDC.”

Emmer asserted that many Washington administrators are concerned by the blockchain-enabled “ownership economy,” which “shifts economic power from centralized institutions back into the hands of the people.”

Emmer also asserted that decentralized cryptocurrencies can help fix the problems with the US monetary system and bring back many of the “American values” such as free markets, privacy, and individual sovereignty.

In December of the last year, Gary Gensler, chairman of the SEC, was challenged by Emmer to defend his unsuccessful “crypto information-gathering efforts.”

Emmer cited the fact that Gensler hasn’t appeared before the House Financial Services Committee since after October 5th, 2021, as supporting documentation. He therefore said that “Gary Gensler must testify before Congress and answer questions about the cost of his regulatory failures.”