Bitcoin Policy Institute: Why the U.S. Should Reject Central Bank Digital Currencies
Central banks across the world are exploring the possibility of developing their own digital currencies, known as CBDCs. In this whitepaper, the authors make the most comprehensive argument against CBDCs to date: CBDCs will erode the distinction between America and authoritarianism.
- The assumption that leaders we empower with technology will always work in the public interest and for the public good is one of the myths dispelled by the political theorists of the Enlightenment. The principle that power corrupts gave rise to the separation of powers and to the highly federated form of government that has characterized the United States since its foundation. As Professor Andrew Ferguson at the American University Washington College of Law has succinctly stated, “Assume the tyrant.”
- This does not mean that we call for the U.S. government to remain weak in the face of threats by other national governments. Rather, we invite policymakers, but first and foremost the American people to whom they are accountable, to preserve a meaningful distinction between the political economy of the United States and that of other countries. As the world goes the way of China in the 21st century, the United States should stand for something different: it should stand for freedom. For this reason, the United States should reject central bank digital currencies.
