The Crypto Kid vs CBDC
Happy Day RoboWarriors!
(deep announcer voice) “Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the main event…The winner of this night’s match will be declared the undisputed ‘World Champion of Financial Integrity’. In this corner, wearing trunks of red, white, and blue — with a less than professional record — join me in welcoming the ‘Master of Disaster’…C-B-D-C! In the opposite corner wearing trunks of solid gold — with a record of epic failures and stunning victories spanning the course of 14 years — please welcome, the very volatile, ‘Captain Freedom’…AKA…The Crypto Kid! Our Judges for this evening’s bout are the SEC, the CFTC, and Ms Vy Pham”.
“Remember, this is to be a fair fight. There are to be no margin calls, and no liquidations of any kind….when the bell rings…come out rallying”.
If you are a fight fan at all, then you know that there is nothing more engaging than a grudge match. A high-stakes contest between two world-class contestants that really don’t like each other. So much to win — so much to lose. Everything is on the line: Reputation, Respect, Relevance. Domination, Dignity, Deservedness.
Both CBDC’s and Crypto's are cryptocurrencies. However, the goals and life-applications of each couldn't be further apart. One seeks to collate and deposit all financial data into centralized agencies. The other seeks exactly the opposite: autonomy and financial freedom. To learn more, please read on:
CBDC
Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) are a form of digital currency; however, instead of being permissionless and trustless, they are monitored and maintained by a central authority — either a nations, or a group of nation’s Central Bank. According to the Atlantic Council’s CBDC Tracker, there are currently 11 countries that have launched their own CBDC. 18 more have piloted a digital currency, the most prominent being China with its digital yuan. Another 32, the United States among them, are now in the developmental phase. 114 countries, which in totality, represent over 95 percent of global GDP, are exploring CBDC as a currency option.
What makes these currencies so valuable to banks and governments is that they are not just digital representations, such as an accounting ledger used for keeping track of cash movements, but they are, much like a stablecoin, actual money. Digital cash — backed by the authority of its issuing government. Essentially the tokenized version of a national currency.
This type of forward-thinking fintech by governments and their banks brings with it a lot of positives:
- Fewer accounting errors.
- Increased transaction speeds.
- More transparent auditing and bookkeeping.
- Greater efficiency and ease of use for the customer/company/bank etc.
Now that may sound good and well, but there’s a catch and it’s called privacy. With CBDC every transaction no matter the amount can be tracked and monitored — it can be authorized, or not authorized. The ability to instantly freeze, transfer or limit a person’s finances is a very powerful tool. To know that you spent X amount here, at this time, on what and to whom paid is a lot of knowledge — and as that old saying goes, “knowledge is power”. Without proper legal protection for citizens, this could become the most significant power grab in history and should be a cause of concern for all people.
Crypto
Remember when we said that CBDC’s are not permissionless and trustless? If you aren’t familiar with these terms, it means that no human is granting permission, and because of this, there is no one to trust. This is one of Crypto’s hallmarks. It allows for the remittance and transferring of funds to either the neighbor next door or literally across all borders to anyone day or night. No waiting for someone to wake up and get to work; to either approve or disapprove your transaction. Or ask you questions about it.
Cryptocurrency is by design decentralized. This means that no central authority is in charge and no person or group thereof can alter in any form any transaction. Crypto is built on blockchain technology. Wikipedia says that ‘a blockchain is a distributed ledger with growing lists of records (blocks) that are securely linked together via cryptographic hashes. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a timestamp, and transaction data (generally represented as a Merkle tree, where data nodes are represented by leaves)’.
One of the many great things about this nascent asset class is its sense of community. From Shib to Doge and beyond…there’s a place for everyone. Our community is active and engaged. Please make sure to check out and follow our Twitter and Reddit pages.
In the evolving and fast-paced world of fintech, RBIF stands out with its innovative suite of DeFi products. A company with a doxxed CEO and Team, ready to deliver the next generation what it is asking for — and what it deserves: Financial Freedom and the Power to achieve its Dreams one block at a time!
What a great (and busy) time to be living, there is literally so much happening, it is easy to get information overload. Never so true as in this crazy crypto-verse we call home :) Thx for reading and see you next time.
