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The Fed Is Preparing to End Money as We Know It

The Fed Is Preparing to End Money as We Know It

Big Banks, FedNow, and the Road to Fedcoin

Every quarter, U.S. Bancorp (USB) releases something called U.S. Bank CFO Insights Report. It gathers insights from over 2,000 senior finance officers (CFOs) nationwide. It might not be everyone’s go-to read, but it’s a good way to stay abreast of what’s happening in the banking industry.

Just a few days ago, they dropped the latest issue, and something immediately grabbed my attention — the survey findings on FedNow, the Federal Reserve’s new real-time payments service.

The report showed that 42% of surveyed CFOs had tried out FedNow in 2023. Right now, 51% are using it, and notably, a staggering 80% plan to use it by 2026.

In other words, nearly double the number of finance leaders anticipate using FedNow in their organizations by 2026 as they did in 2023.

I’m talking about a currency that wouldn’t be printed but would only exist in cyberspace… but one that would also give the Fed and government almost unbreakable financial control over your life.

Now, FedNow isn’t a central bank digital currency (CBDC). But it’s definitely a precursor to one.

Let’s backtrack a bit to understand why.

The FedPal

You see, the Fed and big banks have been gearing up for the eventual rollout of a digital dollar for quite some time now.

As far back as 2017, a consortium including finance giants like Citigroup and JPMorgan initiated a real-time payments network operated by The Clearing House, known as the RTP Network.

This network processed a total of 173 million transactions worth about $76 billion during 2022.

The idea behind the RTP Network has always been to lay the technical groundwork and foster a culture of acceptance for a digital currency. The big banks made no secret of it.


…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

WEF Panelist Says COVID Response Made People More Receptive to Central Bank Digital Currencies

COVID-19 the path for a cashless future, according to Bahrain’s central bank chief at WEF.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) “globalism caravan” was in Saudi Arabia late last month, when one of these “special meeting” panels heard about the usefulness of what one might call “behavioral population lessons learned” during the Covid pandemic.

Specifically, regarding the current push to introduce central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) around the world.

The pandemic itself may have done a sudden “disappearing act” about two years ago – but it’s clearly seen by some as paving the way for a host of other things.

One – the vast majority of people responded to extreme movement and activity restrictions that profoundly affected their lives, plus vaccines – without basically any resistance.

And this by no means went unnoticed.

And that has clearly emboldened a certain class of policy-makers to make further assumptions, about other controversial policies (like CBDCs).

A Gulf central bank chief – Khalid Humaidan of Bahrain – told WEF’s Riyadh “Digital Currencies’ Opportunity in the Middle East” panel that his country is working to get rid of cash altogether, and replace it with digitally centralized, (therefore almost perfectly controlled and tracked) CBDCs.

That’s in and of itself not a Middle East thing – many governments around the world want to do the exact same. Nevertheless, Humaidan for some reason “went there” and actually made the link between what some theorists see as “the great social experiment” – namely, the pandemic – and how it has opened the path for, effectively, corralling billions of people into a certain pattern of thinking and acting.

Humaidan had an interesting take on what “control over cash” means – according to him, central banks were previously “very much in control with all aspects of cash.”

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Unification Of CBDCs? Global Banks Are Telling Us The End Of The Dollar System Is Near

Unification Of CBDCs? Global Banks Are Telling Us The End Of The Dollar System Is Near

World reserve status allows for amazing latitude in terms of monetary policy. The Federal Reserve understands that there is constant demand for dollars overseas as a means to more easily import and export goods. The dollar’s petro-status also makes it essential for trading oil globally. This means that the central bank of the US has been able to create fiat currency from thin air to a far higher degree than any other central bank on the planet while avoiding the immediate effects of hyperinflation.

Much of that cash as well as dollar denominated debt (physical and digital) ends up in the coffers of foreign central banks, international banks and investment firms where it is held as a hedge or used to adjust the exchange rates of other currencies for trade advantage. As much as one-half of the value of all U.S. currency is estimated to be circulating abroad.

World reserve status along with various debt instruments allowed the US government and the Fed to create tens of trillions of dollars in new currency after the 2008 credit crash, all while keeping inflation under control (sort of). The problem is that this system of stowing dollars overseas only lasts so long and eventually the consequences of overprinting come home to roost.

The Bretton Woods Agreement of 1944 established the framework for the rise of the US dollar and while the benefits are obvious, especially for the banks, there are numerous costs involved. Think of world reserve status as a “deal with the devil” – You get the fame, you get the fortune, you get the hot girlfriend and the sweet car, but one day the devil is coming to collect and when he does he’s going to take EVERYTHING, including your soul.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

WEF Report Supports CBDC and Digital ID, Urges Public-Private Collaboration in Finance

WEF’s ambiguous stance on digital currencies raises eyebrows, suggesting a veiled push for CBDCs under the guise of collaboration.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) is clearly championing the introduction not only of (retail) central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) for the general public but also the wholesale version, wCBDC, geared toward interbank payments and securities transactions.

It is not uncommon to come across leading financial institutions and banks linking to WEF reports while explaining and promoting their own activities in this space.

And yet, a new WEF report (a collaborative effort with Accenture) titled, “Modernizing Financial Markets with Wholesale Central Bank Digital Currency (wCBDC),” states that the group does not actually explicitly “advocate” for issuance of wCBDCs.

(Nonetheless, the same report, “a critical analysis,” at one point in fact states that it “advocates for collaboration among central banks, commercial banks and financial market infrastructures to use wCBDC to address interbank payment and securities transaction challenges.”)

The WEF, an informal group gathering global elites, seems aware that CDBCs, in general, are a controversial proposition, and may be trying to control the optics regarding the depth of its involvement, since it doesn’t necessarily help elected national governments if WEF is seen as the main driving force behind the schemes.

However, the WEF also obviously again trying to position itself at the center of incoming policies: “This report offers timely insights for public and private sector leaders evaluating the potential role of wCBDC in their jurisdictions,” it reads.

Either way, WEF has for a while now evidently been taking the lead in crafting a template of sorts for policies that will allow mass adoption of (w) CBDCs around the world.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Cashless Society: WEF Boasts That 98% Of Central Banks Are Adopting CBDCs

Cashless Society: WEF Boasts That 98% Of Central Banks Are Adopting CBDCs

Whatever happened to the WEF?  One minute they were everywhere in the media and now they have all but disappeared from public discourse.  After the pandemic agenda was defeated and the plan to exploit public fear to create a perpetual medical autocracy was exposed, Klaus Schwab and his merry band of globalists slithered back into the woodwork.  To be sure, we’ll be seeing them again one day, but for now the WEF has relegated itself away from the spotlight and into the dark recesses of the Davos echo chamber.

Much of their discussions now focus on issues like climate change or DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion), but one vital subject continues to pop up in the white papers of global think tanks and it’s a program that was introduced very publicly during covid.  Every person that cares about economic freedom should be wary of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) as perhaps the biggest threat to human liberty since the attempted introduction of vaccine passports.

The WEF recently boasted in a new white paper that 98% of all central banks are now pursuing CBDC programs.  The report, titled ‘Modernizing Financial Markets With Wholesale Central Bank Digital Currency’, notes:

“CeBM is ideal for systemically important transactions despite the emergence of alternative payment instruments…Wholesale central bank digital currency (wCBDC) is a form of CeBM that could unlock new economic models and integration points that are not possible today.”

The paper primarily focuses on the streamlining of crossborder transactions, an effort which the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has been deeply involved in for the past few years…

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

IMF Prepares Financial Revolution – Say GOODBYE to the Dollar

IMF Prepares Financial Revolution – Say GOODBYE to the Dollar

Global reserve currency status allows for amazing latitude in terms of monetary policy.

The Treasury Department understands that there is constant demand for dollars overseas as a means to more easily import and export goods. The petrodollar monopoly made the U.S. dollar essential for trading oil globally for decades.

This means that the central bank of the U.S. has been able to create fiat currency from thin air to a far higher degree than any other central bank on the planet while avoiding the immediate effects of hyperinflation.

Much of that cash as well as dollar-denominated debt  ends up in the coffers of foreign central banks, international banks and investment firms. Sometimes it is held as a hedge, or bought and sold to adjust the exchange rates of local currencies. As much as 60% of all U.S. currency (and 25% of U.S. government debt) is owned outside the U.S.

Global reserve currency status is what allowed the U.S. government and the Fed to create tens of trillions of dollars in new currency after the 2008 credit crash, all while keeping inflation more or less under control.

The problem is that this system of stowing dollars overseas only lasts so long and eventually the effects of overprinting come home to roost.

The Bretton-Woods Agreement of 1944 established the framework for the rise of the U.S. dollar. While the benefits are obvious, especially for the U.S., there are numerous costs involved. Think of world reserve status as a “deal with the devil.” You get the fame, you get the fortune, you get trophy dates and a sweet car – for a while. Then one day the devil comes to collect, and when he does he’s going to take everything, including your soul.

Unfortunately, I suspect collection time is coming soon for the U.S.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

March 9, 2022

Where were you on March 9, 2022, when President Biden signed the death warrant on American freedom?

On that day, in a hushed ceremony at the White House without the approval of Congress, the states or the American people, Biden signed into law Executive Order 14067.

Buried in his order are a few paragraphs, titled Section 4. The language in Section 4 makes Order 14067 the most treacherous act by a sitting president in the history of our republic.

That’s because Section 4 sets the stage for legal government surveillance of all U.S. citizens, total control over your bank accounts and purchases and the ability to silence all dissenting voices for good.

In this new war on freedom, they aren’t coming for your guns. No, they’re thinking much bigger than that.

They’re coming for your money.

And it’s already started. These efforts are stepping up and taking on a nefarious tone that also involves surveillance and loss of our freedoms under the guise of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), or Biden Bucks as I call them.

If you had asked me about this two years ago, I would have said the U.S. is taking a rather studious approach to it. It was too important to not be involved in, but the U.S. did not seem to be in any hurry to actually implement it.

There were studies, and I would have said my estimate at the time would have been, “OK, China has it. Europe, maybe another year. The U.S. might be three or four years down the road because the dollar’s too important. They don’t want to race into it. They want to get it right. There are a lot of ways to mess it up.”

But that’s changed under Joe Biden.

…click on the above link to read the rest…

Governments Start Calling For Price Controls – Rationing And CBDCs Come Next

Governments Start Calling For Price Controls – Rationing And CBDCs Come Next

Last month in the middle of the surreal “Bidenomics” hype I published an article titled ‘Nothing Is Over: Inflation Is About To Come Back With A Vengeance.’  I outlined the misconceptions surrounding CPI and how it is not an accurate model for the effects of inflation.  I also noted that the index had been manipulated downwards by Joe Biden as he flooded the market with oil from the strategic reserves.  Because so many elements of the CPI are connected to energy, Biden had created an artificial drop in CPI using this strategy.

I argued that as the strategic reserves ran out and Biden lost his leverage, CPI would rise again and prices on a number of necessities would climb.  This is happening now, with the biggest jump in CPI in 14 months and gas prices clawing back towards all-time highs.

Inflation is not going away anytime soon, but the bigger issue at hand is who benefits most from inflation and rising prices? The answer might be obvious to some but many people are oblivious to the root cause of inflationary dysfunction and often see it as a consequence of random economic chaos rather than a product of clever engineering. The truth is, banking oligarchs and political authorities revel in the inflationary tidal wave because it is a perfect opportunity to institute far reaching socialist controls over resources.

In most cases central bankers are the primary culprits behind the creation of an inflationary event, and the word “creation” best applies because it is nearly impossible for overt inflation to occur without them. While money supply is not the only factor when dealing with inflation (sorry purists, but there are indeed other causes), it is the most important…

…click on the above link to read the rest…

Doug Casey on the Death of Privacy… and What Comes Next

Doug Casey on the Death of Privacy… and What Comes Next

Death of Privacy

International Man: In practically every country, the allowable limit for cash withdrawals and transactions continues to be lowered.

Further, rampant currency debasement is lowering the real value of these ridiculous limits.

Why are governments so intent on phasing out cash? What is really behind this coordinated effort?

Doug Casey: Let me draw your attention to three truths that my friend Nick Giambruno has pointed out about money in bank accounts.

#1. The money isn’t really yours. You’re just another unsecured creditor if the bank goes bust.

#2. The money isn’t actually there. It’s been lent out to borrowers who are illiquid or insolvent.

#3. The money isn’t really money. It’s credit created out of thin air.

The point is that cash is freedom. And when the State limits the utility of cash—physical dollars that don’t leave an electronic trail—they are limiting your personal freedom to act and compromising your privacy. Governments are naturally opposed to personal freedom and personal privacy because those things limit their control, and governments are all about control.

International Man: Governments will probably mandate Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) as the “solution” when the next real or contrived crisis hits—which is likely not far off.

What’s your take? What are the implications for financial privacy?

Doug Casey: CBDCs are proposed as a solution, but in fact, they’re a gigantic problem.

Government is not your friend, and CBDCs are not a solution.

If they successfully implement CBDCs, it would mean that anything you buy or sell, and any income you earn, will go through CBDCs. You will have zero effective privacy. The Authorities will automatically know what you own, and they’ll be in a position to control your assets. Instantly.

…click on the above link to read the rest…

“No Way Out” for Global Markets Trapped in a Doom Loop of Debt

“No Way Out” for Global Markets Trapped in a Doom Loop of Debt

In this compelling conversation with Wealthion founder, Adam Taggart, Matterhorn Asset Management principal, Matthew Piepenburg, addresses the current and vast range of headline market topics, signals and risks. Inflation, deflation, risk assets, bond stress, cryptos, war, bank failures, CBDC’s rise, trapped policy makers and, of course, the topic of precious metals are all carefully and plainly discussed.

Piepenburg’s broader views on current and future financial conditions are bluntly yet realistically presented as a “no way out” scenario for global economies distorted by cornered central bankers. The bottom line is as simple as it is incontrovertible: The global economy is stuck in a doom loop of debt.

Either central banks raise rates to allegedly “kill inflation” by killing the economy and markets, or they resort to more mouse-click money and kill the currency in your wallet.

Historically, all debt-cornered nations spur collapsing markets followed by collapsing currencies and inflation-driven social unrest. Leaders of all eras and stripes (left or right) then address this unrest with tighter, more centralized controls over our economies and lives. CBDC is a classic and modern symptom of this timeless pattern.  So is war. The current era will be no exception, as history (from ancient Rome to Chairman Mao, or Napoleon to the rise of fascist leaders of the 1930’s) offers no exception.

Piepenburg tracks the current evolution of this trend in a Federal Reserve that has tightened too fast and too high, breaking everything in its path in one dis-inflationary debt or banking crisis after the next, which are inevitably “solved” via more inflationary and mouse-clicked dollars. End result? Currency debasement, for which gold is one obvious and historical solution rather than “gold bug” apology.

…click on the above link to read the rest…

Project Icebreaker: The Beginning Of A One World Digital Currency System?

Project Icebreaker: The Beginning Of A One World Digital Currency System?

There has been extensive discussion in the past couple of years within alternative media circles about the dangers of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs); a currency framework very similar to blockchain based products like Bitcoin but directly controlled by central bankers. It’s a threat that some analysts including myself have been writing about for more than a decade, so it’s good to finally see the issue being addressed more in the mainstream.

The Orwellian nature of CBDCs cannot be overstated. In a cashless society most people would be dependent on digital products for exchanging goods and labor, and this would of course mean the end of all privacy in trade. Everything you buy or sell or work for in your life would be recorded, and this lack of anonymity could be used to stifle your freedoms in the future.

For example, say you like to eat steak regularly, but the increasingly authoritarian government decides to list red meat as a health risk and a “climate change risk” due to carbon emissions from cows. They determine by your purchase history (which they have full access to) that you have contributed more carbon pollution than most people by eating red meat often. They declare that you must pay a retroactive carbon tax on your past purchases of red meat. Not only that, but your insurance company sends you a letter indicating that you are a medical risk and they cut off your health coverage.

Products you consume and services you use can be tracked to create a psychological profile on you, which could then become a factor in determining your social credit score, just as CCP authorities do in China today…

…click on the above link to read the rest…

Central Bank Digital Currency Prison – Catherine Austin Fitts

Central Bank Digital Currency Prison – Catherine Austin Fitts

Catherine Austin Fitts (CAF), Publisher of The Solari Report, financial expert and former Assistant Secretary of Housing (Bush 41 Admin.), says the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) is much easier said than done.  There is a monster fight behind the scenes between commercial banks and central banks.  CAF explains, “You have bubbled an entire economy, and now you are bringing out something (CBDC) that could shrink the bubble dramatically, and it can put a lot of banks out of the game and out of the business.  If the central banks are going to compete directly for retail accounts, it’s going to shrink the fees and business for a lot of banks.  You are talking about cutting their income or putting them out of business.  So, CBDC is highly controversial.  One reason is people are beginning to wake up and realize, oh, I am no longer an insider.  CBDC is going to turn me into a slave, and they are going to be able to take all my assets.  You think they could lock you down during the pandemic?  The CBDC is the ultimate lockdown tool, and they can lock anyone down whenever they feel like it.”

The Fed’s biggest fear is losing control of the financial system.  CAF says, “The Fed is scared to death of the global debt growth model, and they kept this model going by growing the debt more and more and more.  Now, interest rates are accelerating in a way . . . it shrinks your productivity.  So, the pie that is supporting the debt, is shrinking. . . . This is a coup model just like in Ukraine.  You push all the people out or you kill them.  You have war conditions so you can pick everything up cheap.  You can do this with government money to ‘help’ Ukraine….

…click on the above link to read the rest…

Is Switzerland About to Become First Country to Outlaw a Cashless Society?

Is Switzerland About to Become First Country to Outlaw a Cashless Society?

As in neighboring Germany and Austria, cash is still king in Switzerland albeit a much diminished one. But the Swiss will soon have the chance to vote on whether to preserve notes and coins indefinitely.  

This is a rare positive news story that, perhaps unsurprisingly, has received next to no attention beyond Swiss borders. As far as I can tell, none of the legacy media in the US, UK, France, Germany or Spain have even bothered to cover the story. Indeed, it only registered on my radar a couple of days ago, over a week after the story initially broke, because an acquaintance of mine with family in Switzerland told me about it.

So, here’s the basic thrust of the story: At the beginning of last week, a Swiss pressure group with libertarian leanings called the Swiss Freedom Movement (FBS) announced it had collected enough signatures (111,000) to trigger a national vote on preserving cash for posterity. If passed, the initiative would require the federal government to ensure that coins and banknotes are always available in sufficient quantities. What’s more, any attempt to replace the Swiss Franc with another currency — quite possibly a reference to a central bank digital currency — would also have to be put to popular vote.

From Reuters:

Swiss citizens will get the chance to try to ensure their economy never becomes cashless, a pressure group said, after collecting enough signatures on Monday to trigger a popular vote on the issue.

The Free Switzerland Movement (FBS) says cash is playing a shrinking role in many economies, as electronic payments become the default for transactions in increasingly digitised societies, making it easier for the state to monitor its citizens’ actions.

Cash Still King in Switzerland, Albeit a Much Diminished One

A Dollar Collapse Is Now In Motion – Saudi Arabia Signals The End Of Petro Status

A Dollar Collapse Is Now In Motion – Saudi Arabia Signals The End Of Petro Status

The decline of a currency’s world reserve status is often a long process rife with denials. There are numerous economic “experts” out there that have been dismissing any and all warnings of dollar collapse for years. They just don’t get it, or they don’t want to get it. The idea that the US currency could ever be dethroned as the defacto global trade mechanism is impossible in their minds.

One of the key pillars keeping the dollar in place as the world reserve is its petro-status, and this factor is often held up as the reason why the Greenback cannot fail. The other argument is that the dollar is backed by the full force of the US military, and the US military is backed by the US Treasury and the Federal Reserve – In other words, the dollar is backed by…the dollar; it’s a very circular and naive position.

These sentiments are not only pervasive among mainstream economists, they are also all over the place within the alternative media. I suspect the main hang-up for liberty movement analysts is the notion that the globalist establishment would ever allow the dollar or the US economy to fail. Isn’t the dollar system their “golden goose”?

The answer is no, it is NOT their golden goose. The dollar is just another stepping stone towards their goal of a one-world economy and a one-world currency. They have killed the world reserve status of other currencies in the past, why wouldn’t they do the same to the dollar?

Globalist white papers and essays specifically outline the need for a diminished role for the US currency as well as a decline in the American economy in order to make way for Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) and a new global currency system controlled by the IMF…

…click on the above link to read the rest…

Nigeria Limits ATM Withdrawals To $45 Per Day To Force Govt-Controlled Digital Payments

Nigeria Limits ATM Withdrawals To $45 Per Day To Force Govt-Controlled Digital Payments

A staggering number of Nigerians love Bitcoin, but hate government cryptocurrency (CBDCs).

In April, leading cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin noted that 35% of the adult population in Nigeria – roughly 34 million adults aged 18-60, own bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. But when it came to the country’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), the eNaira, it was a massive failure.

According to Bloombergonly 1 in 200 Nigerians use the eNaira – despite government implemented discounts and other incentives, implemented as desperate measures to increase adoption.

Now, the government is looking to boost digital payments by limiting ATM withdrawals to just 20,000 naira, or roughly US$45 per day, Bloomberg reports, citing a circular sent to lenders on Tuesday. The previous withdrawal limit was 150,000 naira (US$350).

Weekly cash withdrawals from banks are now limited (without fee) to 100,000 naira (US$225) for individuals, and 500,000 naira (US$1,125) for corporations. Any amount above this will incur a fee of 5% and 10% respectively.

The action is the latest in a string of central bank orders aimed at limiting the use of cash and expand digital currencies to help improve access to banking. In Nigeria’s largely informal economy, cash outside banks represents 85% of currency in circulation and almost 40 million adults are without a bank account. 

The central bank last month announced plans to issue redesigned high value notes from mid-December to mop up excess cash and it’s given residents until the end of January to turn in their old notes. The bank also plans to mint more of the eNaira digital currency, which was launched last year but has faced slow adoption. -Bloomberg

What’s more, new rules which will take effect Jan. 9 will ban the cashing of checks above 50,000 naira (US$112) over-the-counter, and 10 million naira (US$22,480) through the banking systems. Point-of-sale cash withdrawals have been capped at 20,000 naira ($45).

…click on the above link to read the rest…

Olduvai IV: Courage
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Olduvai II: Exodus
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