CBDCs and stablecoins: Trojan horses to inoculate the masses?

“Bitcoin and Christianity is inevitable. Same values, same principals, same enemies.” X user “Michael” (@cryptotraveler), Sept 24, 2021

"Bitcoin and Christianity is inevitable. Same values, same principals, same enemies." X user "Michael" (@cryptotraveler), Sept 24, 24

So, hey, my regulars will know that in addition to copy editing here at the Roswell Daily Record, I’ve also done quite a bit of work for some notable names in the bitcoin industry. The one I am most proud of — and I mean "tip-top of my resume proud" — was paid copy editing work for the influential lobbying group Bitcoin Policy Institute’s 44-page "Why The U.S. Should Reject Central Bank Digital Currencies," written by Natalie Smolenski with Dan Held, published in 2022 and circulated to the banking industry and U.S. legislators nationwide.

Their arguments prevailed. In a January 2024 campaign speech in New Hampshire, Markets Insider (MI) reported that now President Donald Trump said, "Tonight, I’m also making another promise to protect Americans from government tyranny. As your president, I will never allow the creation of a Central Bank Digital Currency. Such a currency would give our federal government absolute control over your money. …"

In January 2025, Trump doubled down on this promise. MI reported Trump was joining "... other leading Republicans in coming out against a CBDC. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis … was the first major candidate to speak out in opposition. Vivek Ramaswamy, a Bitcoin advocate, has said ‘hell no’ to one. Tom Emmer, the House Whip, introduced a bill in Congress to ban a U.S. CBDC. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas did something similar in the upper chamber. North Carolina's House of Representatives passed a bill to outlaw a so-called ‘digital dollar’ there."

Sometimes, like now as I write this actually, I still tear up knowing that my work might have played some tiny part in all of the above being realized — in making bitcoin the law of the land. Bitcoiners, in our delusions of grandeur, know well that we are the only line of defense remaining against the New World Order, the Federal Reserve, the International Monetary Fund and the central banks’ unelected “officials” maintaining control of the world’s monetary supply. And with unbegrudging duty, we routinely sacrifice our time and some, our fortunes, to see that such a future is averted and that bitcoin wins in the end.

Breaking ranks and campaigning even at Libertarian events, Trump’s “conversion” to bitcoin was also covered here in November, a column that also opined (quoting myself), "Conversely though, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA), along with Biden-appointed Gary Gensler (D), chairperson of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, have served as the de facto face of the Democratic Party, enforcing unwritten and unclear stances on the bitcoin industry (and all cryptocurrencies that followed). Favoring not merely ‘reasonable’ regulations, which the industry has been pleading for anyway, Dems have enacted several practical chokeholds on the industry’s ability to grow in the United States, raising possible challenges to the U.S. Constitution in some cases … forcing other tech companies to move their jobs and their profits offshore. Being succinct, these so-called ‘representatives’ represent mainly the corporate interests of the legacy banking industry, which helps fund their campaigns, and is losing fees and customers to the superior technology of bitcoin, which does not require any rent-seeking third-party company to operate, to send cross-border to one’s family or to hold permanently."

While not my topics today, two things: First, CBDCs have already effectively been renamed as commercial bank dollar-pegged "stablecoins" now — so called because their values don't fluctuate like bitcoin but hold their $1 value. Bank of America "coin," JP Morgan "coin," Amazon "coin," etc., are all on the very near horizon. The potential danger(s) in this? In 2022, PayPal faced backlash over a proposed new clause leaked before publication that would have fined users $2,500 for spreading “misinformation.” The policy was later withdrawn, but that’s just an example.

Second, it’s a shame that bitcoin at least seems a partisan issue in the U.S. It is not, but those who protect the banks over the people have made it so. Bitcoin itself is the most apolitical, amoral financial instrument ever created. As renowned educator Andreas Antonopoulos stated in a social post years ago, "Bitcoin does not care — nor does it even know — who you are, what you are using it for, where you are using it, or why you are using it."

A 9-year-old girl born in a mud hut in Africa without a birth certificate can use, as the colloquial saying goes, "a $20 Nokia cellphone" with only simple SMS