The Blockchain.com Podcast: The Outlook for Central Bank Digital Currency with Author Michael Casey
Following the Biden Administration’s executive order asking executive branch agencies to look into regulating cryptocurrencies and the potential for a central bank digital currency (CBDC), there’s been a lot of speculation out there as to what will happen next in the crypto space.
Author Michel Casey shares his views on why the United States won’t follow China into creating a central bank digital currency.
The decentralized nature of cryptocurrency projects fits in with America’s worldview. That’s opposed to the oppressive and top-down nature of a CBDC, at least as outlined by China.
The crypto space has evolved substantially in recent years. Even changes to the Bitcoin protocol, made by consensus, have acted to make the cryptocurrency more accessible to everyday traders and investors. And that’s without the need for government regulation.
Such regulations, when they happen, will likely be enough to bring more investors into the crypto realm.
CBDCs, in contrast, offer the potential to allow a government to shut someone out of a monetary system instantly. It could happen for any real or perceived offense. China’s push for a CBDC looks more like the ultimate surveillance and police state tool. That goes against the view of using crypto as a way to rethink what money is. Crypto can succeed best when it works as a mechanism for exchanging goods and services.