FedNow – American Conservative Movement

Bank Payment Processing Outages Highlight Risks of Relying on Electronic Banking

Cassie B., Natural News — Sat, 18 Nov 2023 22:05:10 +0000

(Natural News)—Last week, a number of American banks could not process payments for a few days, leaving some customers in a precarious financial situation as transfers and deposits failed and highlighting the risks of relying on electronic banking.

The effects of the outages were far-reaching. Many people’s payroll direct deposits failed, leaving them unable to access the money they earned. ACH payments also failed to process, which resulted in late fees. There were also duplicated withdrawals, which left many customers in a bind after their money was taken out twice for a single transaction. Between Wells Fargo, Chase and Bank of America, there were almost a million failed transactions in total.

A precise cause has not been disclosed, but the problem is almost certainly in the backbone of the banking system itself because people experiencing issues were unable to resolve them by going to their local branches.

The Clearing House Payments Company reported that instructions for transactions were sent to the affected banks “with the account number and names of customers masked” because of a processing error. This data is needed to process incoming payments and post funds to accounts, so the payments could not proceed.

The Clearing House said it was “working with the financial institutions with impacted customers, and with the Federal Reserve, to resolve this issue as quickly as possible.”

Banks that attempted to send funds during the outage must now send the original instructions again to make the transfers work, which is leading to significant delays for affected customers.

One bank, JPMorgan, said it is automatically refunding the overdraft fees it charged customers who did not have sufficient funds to pay their bills as a result of the problem. The bank, which is the country’s biggest, is still seeing an unusually high volume of problem reports from customers.

Is the FedNow system to blame?

Although the problem is largely under control now, banks have been frustratingly vague in explaining what happened, leading to speculation about the cause of the issue. Some observers, like The Daily Doom’s David Haggith, are convinced that the Federal Reserve’s new FedNow system could be the culprit.

He points to one news report that said “the bank issues were a technical glitch with the Federal Reserve System.” This is not a very clear statement and it’s hard to imagine the entire Federal Reserve system being broken, but it would make sense if it was FedNow that was at fault.

FedNow is an instant payment service backed by the U.S. Federal Reserve that was introduced in July. Banks and credit unions are not required to participate, but the customers of those that do join the program can make payments and transfers outside of business hours, as well as on holidays and weekends. This is not possible with standard online transfers such as Automated Clearing House (ACH) transfers, which are processed in batches and can take a few days to clear.

It’s not unusual for newer systems like this to encounter glitches, but this was a major problem that resulted in hundreds of thousands of failed transfers.

While there don’t appear to be any clear answers about what role, if any, FedNow played in this drama, the incident does highlight the vulnerabilities of these types of electronic systems. It could be a sign of even more trouble in the future if FedNow is, as many believe, meant to serve as a distributed ledger for a future central bank digital currency (CBDC) from the Fed.

As Haggith points out, when these problems occur, people who have cash on hand will have a backup source of funding if electronic banking fails, but with a cashless CBDC system, these types of problems could leave people with no way to cover their necessities until the system is fixed. Technical problems and hacking incidents could bring life to a standstill if people are overly reliant on such systems.

Sound off about this article on the Economic Collapse Substack.

Sources for this article include:

FedNow Is LIVE and the Framework Is in Place for CBDCs

Daisy Luther — Sat, 22 Jul 2023 15:56:23 +0000

Yesterday, with a bit of fanfare but not TOO much fanfare, a “wonderful” new product was launched. FedNow is live, and we can all transfer money to our heart’s content via the Federal Reserve.

Wow, that sounds great, doesn’t it? Of course, that is a spot created by the Federal Reserve and up ton the Federal Reserve YouTube channel.

FedNow is live at 35 banks.

Axios reports that 35 banks across the country are participating in the launch.

By the numbers: So far, 35 banks have signed up as early adopters of FedNow, including JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, but notably not including Citigroup or Bank of America. That number is rather lower than the Fed led us to believe as recently as recently as June.

The U.S. Treasury is also signed up as an early adopter of FedNow.

Some 353 banks and credit unions have signed up for RTP.

In order to use either service, both the sending and the receiving bank need to be signed up for the system.

We are now officially on that slippery slope I’ve been talking about. I wrote about exactly this happening in my dystopian fiction, Good Citizens, and discussed how this could evolve to control almost every aspect of our lives.

Why I’m concerned now that FedNow is live

A while back, I wrote an article discussing a payment gateway designed by the Federal Reserve called FedNow. This is a way to make instant transfers between accounts, sort of like PayPal or Venmo, but without the users having to move the money from various wallets.

While it sounds convenient, the concern is that this puts the infrastructure to quickly roll out CBDCs into place. Previously, I wrote about this.

On March 15th, in the midst of the banking collapses, the Federal Reserve issued a press release detailing a new instant payment system that will be launched in July. That system is called FedNow. Here’s what they said about it.

The first week of April, the Federal Reserve will begin the formal certification of participants for launch of the service. Early adopters will complete a customer testing and certification program, informed by feedback from the FedNow Pilot Program, to prepare for sending live transactions through the system.

Certification encompasses a comprehensive testing curriculum with defined expectations for operational readiness and network experience. In June, the Federal Reserve and certified participants will conduct production validation activities to confirm readiness for the July launch.

“We couldn’t be more excited about the forthcoming FedNow launch, which will enable every participating financial institution, the smallest to the largest and from all corners of the country, to offer a modern instant payment solution,” said Ken Montgomery, first vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and FedNow program executive. “With the launch drawing near, we urge financial institutions and their industry partners to move full steam ahead with preparations to join the FedNow Service.”

Many early adopters have declared their intent to begin using the service in July, including a diverse mix of financial institutions of all sizes, the largest processors, and the U.S. Treasury.

This has all the hallmarks of a government strategy. First, they offer it as a “convenience” or a “safety measure.” Lots of people will jump on board in order to take advantage of this. Of course, we’ve heard this song before.

Next, it will be pushed harder, and those who don’t adopt it will be mocked, thought of as backward, and treated with suspicion. After that, it’ll be darn near impossible to do anything without it. Sound familiar?

The Federal Reserve Banks are developing the FedNow Service to facilitate nationwide reach of instant payment services by financial institutions — regardless of size or geographic location — around the clock, every day of the year. Through financial institutions participating in the FedNow Service, businesses and individuals will be able to send and receive instant payments at any time of day, and recipients will have full access to funds immediately, giving them greater flexibility to manage their money and make time-sensitive payments. Access will be provided through the Federal Reserve’s FedLine^® network, which serves more than 10,000 financial institutions directly or through their agents.

But what truly makes me worried is that since FedNow is live, this is a soft way to move us all over into using a federal money transferring system that could easily, easily be the platform for the implementation of CBDCs, the digital dollar that could end freedom as we know it.

Please note that what we have with FedNow is NOT a CBDC. It’s just a payment gateway.

But now, the early infrastructure is in place for CBDCs.

Changing a nation’s entire currency is not an overnight project. If we were to go completely digital with our money, it would take a while. Several things would need to happen first:

A national financial infrastructure would need to be created that links accounts from all the banks to an information highway.
They’d need to get people comfortable with using this system and to do that, it would need to be fast and convenient. Who wouldn’t want their money right away? It feels like a win to sell a car and have 20K in your account instantly without waiting for the check to clear.
This provides some time to work out any bugs. The folks adopting FedNow would be the guinea pigs. It’s new, but everyone expects new stuff to be glitchy. If you’re getting in on the ground floor, you’re probably willing to be patient with that.
Next, they’ll want to get as many people voluntarily using it as possible. Expect generous offers, outrageous convenience, and free or cheap transactions.
Once it’s all in place and running smoothly, the final transition from cash money to digital money would just be a matter of the central bank devaluing our cash but allowing people to trade it for digital at full (or at least greater) value.

If you’ve never listened to me before, please listen to me now. This IS the road we’re on. And once CBDCs are in place, especially if they are the only option, your every transaction will be monitored, data will be mined from your spending, and your choices can be controlled.

What’s the big deal with CBDCs?

CBDC stands for Central Bank Digital Currency, and these are digital versions of a country’s currency. A digital currency alongside our current physical currency is voluntary. My concern is when that digital currency becomes the only option. And I do mean when, not if.

A digital currency could mean such controls as automatic taxation or where and when you’re allowed to make purchases – all at the push of a button. The most likely way this will be rolled out is to “fight inflation” and “fix the economy.” As per the IMF:

A world with lower inflation (and even zero inflation) and no persistent recessions may sound like a pipe dream, but we argue that it is possible by transitioning to an “electronic money standard.” Such a transition requires eliminating the zero lower bound, which central banks can achieve using readily available tools. Breaking the zero lower bound implies that the optimal rate of inflation will be lower than in the presence of the lower bound. This will empower central banks to quickly restore full employment and, over the medium term, possibly move toward targeting full price stability with zero inflation.

Obviously, any kind of manipulation like this is false, and while there may be some temporary relief, it won’t solve the underlying problems with our economy.

Bank for International Settlements wrote a glowing report about the “benefits” of the CBDC system. Here’s what I took away from this:

Central bankers can execute policy or modify rates instantaneously, at the push of a button.
Private crypto is bad.
Central bank digital currency is good.
CBDCs are better than crypto because they’re trusted.
CBDCs aren’t “subject to the practical limitations of paper money.” (i.e., they can be tracked.)
Therefore it protects against “money laundering, proliferation financing, and terrorist financing.”
It will increase the pool of data generated on users and transactions, thus “helping” the “proper authorities.”
“Multi-CBDC platforms” aids in decentralization. (i.e., a global economy)
On a common CBDC platform across multiple central banks, transactions are recorded on one ledger.

I don’t think it means what they’re trying to tell us it means.

What can you do?

I’ve written a lot lately about the need to get your money out of the banks. You need something of value that does not require you to dance to the tune of the government’s fiddle. Imagine if you had a savings account and the “value” of that money changed with the implementation of CBDCs. Imagine it’s worth less, say, by 20 percent.

Suddenly your $10,000 becomes $8,000. Your $100,000 loses $20K to become $80,000. It would only take a second, with the click of a button in some office up on the Mount Olympus of the Fed.

If you have savings and you want to protect your money, you need to make at least a portion of it tangible. That means investing in:

Supplies like food, tools, and other long-term preps
Land
Precious metals

I’m not suggesting going out and dealing in only silver dimes if you are in a situation in which you’re living from paycheck to paycheck. If you are in those shoes like so many of us are right now, you don’t have as many options. It isn’t feasible or practical if you’re going to need this money right away for existing expenses.

But if you are trying to protect existing wealth and this is not money you’ll need to access immediately, I urge you to consider investing it into gold or silver to protect your savings during the economic downturn ahead. At the same time, getting your money out of this currency system that may soon be switched to CBDC is the only way to ensure it remains yours.

I use ITM Trading, out of Phoenix, AZ, for all of my metals purchases. I know there are plenty of good companies out there, but I prefer ITM because of their focus on education. I’ve learned so much in my consultations (which are free, btw). I’ve been very impressed with the access to curated resources, research, and weekly insights on macroeconomics, central banks, currencies, and the global reset that they provide. To me, there’s really no other option for my purchases.

If you want to schedule a strategy session with ITM, it’s absolutely free, and there is no pressure whatsoever. Some folks take weeks or months before investing, and others decide it isn’t for them. But what every single person walks away with is a clearer understanding of the monetary system and what investing in precious metals entails. And you get all of it at no charge. To schedule your own appointment, go here or call this number directly: 1-866-517-1257 – I’ll be really interested to know whether you’re as impressed as I am. (Editor’s Note: ITM works with Daisy, not us. This publication is not endorsing them, not that we are against them in any way; frankly, I don’t know who they are. But just know that they are Daisy’s endorsement, not ours.)

We’re all just one wrongthink away from losing our money.

Remember in Canada when Trudeau locked down accounts for supporting the trucker strike? We’re all just one wrongthink away from losing access to our money.

Another recent precedent regarding losing access to the financial system is the case of Nigel Farage. Both he and his relatives have had bank accounts closed and been unable to open other accounts because they’ve been named PEPs: Politically Exposed Persons. Farage, if you recall, was pro-Brexit. He wrote:

Writing in The Sunday Telegraph, Mr Farage, who said several other banks had denied him accounts, claimed he was the victim of over-zealous anti-money laundering regulations.

“Anti-money laundering rules appear to have been wildly over-interpreted by the compliance departments of banks in the UK,” he wrote in the Brexit-supporting newspaper.

“Nobody can deny that money laundering is a problem, he said. “Yet a series of agreements, EU directives and UK rules established to confront this menace have almost entirely failed to do so.

“Banks now live in fear of receiving huge fines. Their default setting seems to be to close down the business and personal accounts of anybody who is deemed to require extra due diligence – be they the owner of a window cleaning firm or a pawnbroker.”

He added: “Those who are paid in cash are no longer welcome; the compliance costs of servicing these accounts makes them unprofitable.”

Mr Farage initially claimed that his account with Coutts, which acts on behalf of the royal family, had been closed in an “establishment”-orchestrated revenge mission for Brexit, sparking a free speech row.

So it’s already happening. People are losing access to the system for having political beliefs that oppose the status quo that the ruling administration has in place.

I know that these two examples are outside the US, but that doesn’t provide me even a tiny little bit of comfort. I’ve already suffered massive financial abuse at the hands of government-funded censorship groups. Many others have too.

Is it really a stretch of the imagination that losing banking privileges could happen here in America, the Land of Cancel Culture? What will you do if you can no longer use a bank? How will you get and cash your paycheck? How will you pay your bills now that so many things must be done online?

When we are no longer free to vociferously disagree, we aren’t free at all.

You need a backup plan, and you need it now. FedNow is live, and I don’t believe that good things will follow.

What are your thoughts?

Are you concerned about the implementation of FedNow? Do you think that this is just a payment gateway or do you think it’s a step toward CBDCs and total financial control? What strategy are you planning to use to survive an attack on financial liberty?

Let’s talk about it in the comments section.

About Daisy

Daisy Luther is a coffee-swigging, adventure-seeking, globe-trotting blogger. She is the founder and publisher of three websites. 1) The Organic Prepper, which is about current events, preparedness, self-reliance, and the pursuit of liberty; 2) The Frugalite, a website with thrifty tips and solutions to help people get a handle on their personal finances without feeling deprived; and 3) PreppersDailyNews.com, an aggregate site where you can find links to all the most important news for those who wish to be prepared. Her work is widely republished across alternative media and she has appeared in many interviews.

Daisy is the best-selling author of 5 traditionally published books, 12 self-published books, and runs a small digital publishing company with PDF guides, printables, and courses at SelfRelianceand Survival.com You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, Gab, MeWe, Parler, Instagram, and Twitter.

FedNow, the Precursor to the Digital Dollar CBDC, Has Launched

Sponsored Post — Thu, 20 Jul 2023 23:31:26 +0000

Editor’s Note: The article below by Tyler Durden at Zero Hedge details some of what you need to know about FedNow, the government’s stepping stone to a Central Bank Digital Currency. Despite all of the protestations and lies coming from the Fed, this is it. One would have to be a politician-trusting fool beholden to the Deep State and getting their financial news from CNBC to believe FedNow is not the path to financial totalitarianism.

We strongly recommend working with our precious metals sponsors. Now is not the time to sit back and see what happens. The worst-case-scenario is in the process of dropping. That’s not fearmongering. That’s simply the reality of a government that is determined to control us and and a population made up of far too many people who are okay with being controlled.

The masses will embrace FedNow giddily. They will be even happier when the “safe” and “secure” Digital Dollar comes out in the coming years or even months. Prudent Americans with their eyes opening will see the writing on the wall and make moves to protect their life’s savings.

Genesis Gold Group or Advisor Metals can help. Contact one or both today. Here’s Tyler Durden…

As FedNow Launches, Fed Reassures Public That ‘Service Has No Relation With CBDCs’

As Bruce WIlds noted earlier in the week, The Fed has stated that FedNow is not intended to kill or replace other money transfer options like Venmo, Cash App, PayPal, or Zelle. Instead, it is designed to work alongside the current systems built by the private sector. Still. FedNow could rapidly become a game changer. Money.com notes this FedNow is launching soon. FedNow was scheduled to begin formal certification of participants of the program in April 2023, with a formal launch planned for July 2023. It will operate on a 24-hour, 365-days-a-year basis,

This new system differs from consumer-facing apps which allow instant peer-to-peer payments, FedNow won’t be an app per se. It’s more designed to allow banks to move money instantly. More than 50 financial institutions are “early adopters” of FedNow, some of the notable banks that will use FedNow include JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Peoples Bank.

FedNow will only be available to customers of the banks that choose to implement FedNow. The Fed says all 10,000 or so banks that are regulated by the Fed can join but will not be required to do so. The claim is that, for everyday people, FedNow could make managing money much easier and faster. It would allow you to pay your mortgage bill on Christmas Day without worrying about it being delayed or late because of the holiday.

This also means that transferring money between, say, your checking and savings accounts at different banks could be done instantly. Even gig workers like Uber drivers could get paid immediately after each completed ride. It also means a record of every transaction that occurs will be put on “record.” In short “big-brother” will know everything you do, your preferences, and how you live your life. To many of us, this amounts to an invasion of privacy.

And now, as The Fed prepares to unleash their new service, they seen to reassure the public.

As Arjit Sarkar reports at CoinTelegraph.com, The US Federal Reserve clarified that its new service for instant payments between organizations — the FedNow Service — has no relation with central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

The Fed certified the FedNow Service as “ready” after it onboarded 41 financial institutions, 15 service providers and the U.S. Department of the Treasury to test the system before its launch by the end of July 2023. However, the central bank had to clarify that the promise of instant fiat payments and real-time gross settlement (RTGS) is not powered by a CBDC.

#FedFAQ: Is the FedNow Service replacing cash? Is it a central bank digital currency?

Learn more about the #FedNow Service:https://t.co/ACBjfEhR4A https://t.co/IXF8dyy46S pic.twitter.com/7CUaYZYyM9

— Federal Reserve (@federalreserve) July 19, 2023

In a tweet, the Fed stated that FedNow Service is similar to other payment services, such as Fedwire and FedACH, which work within the boundaries of the fiat ecosystem. It said:

“The FedNow Service is not related to a digital currency. The FedNow Service is a payment service the Federal Reserve is making available for banks and credit unions to transfer funds for their customers.”

The Federal Reserve further confirmed that it has not yet decided on issuing the highly anticipated CBDC and “would only proceed with the issuance of a CBDC with an authorizing law.”

The table above highlights the initial list of participants. However, the Federal Reserve plans to onboard all 10,000 U.S. financial institutions in time to come.

On May 11, the Fed announced the integration of Metal Blockchain into the FedNow Service.

Metal Blockchain’s listing in the FedNow Service provider showcase. Source: FedNow

Metal Blockchain is a crypto network developed by Metallicus based on a fork of Avalanche’s code. According to its documents, the network features a subnet called X-Chain that allows developers to enact rules for transferring assets. For example, a token can be issued with the rule that it “can only be sent to US citizens” or “can’t be traded until tomorrow.”

We give the last word back to Bruce Wilds, who argues that FedNow is another step towards more control over the individual. Twenty minutes into this video by Coin Bureau the narrator takes the stand that FedNow truly seems to be a Trojan Horse to usher in a CBDC system.

It points out that while not everyone will choose to “opt-in” and adopt such a system, it will appear benign to most people and rapidly be accepted. Even those that resist will find the government will most likely force them to use it when dealing with official agencies.

The Fed Launches Phase One of Their CBDC This Month

Greg Reese — Thu, 06 Jul 2023 03:14:40 +0000

In a recent Time Magazine article, Ray Dalio of Bridgewater Associates hedge funds warned that the world is on the brink of disaster.

He came to this conclusion based on current events that haven’t happened since the nineteen thirties.

The largest amounts of debt and inflation, the biggest gaps in wealth and values resulting in the rise of populism on both the left and the right against the elites, and the greatest international conflict between world powers, most importantly between the U.S. and China.

Peter Onge writes that the easy way out of this mess would be for the elite to proactively shrink in scope. Get government out of the economy, out of social engineering, and out of propagandizing kids. But of course, this won’t happen.

Common sense and simple observation will tell you that the so-called elites will continue on their path towards economic destruction and world war. Which is likely what the international bankers had planned all along. Let us not forget that the fast-growing BRICS monetary system was born in 2001 out of Goldman Sachs.

In 1971, President Nixon officially ended the Gold Standard and replaced it with the petrodollar in which OPEC agreed to price their oil in US dollars in exchange for US military protection. This blood money deal preserved US control over the world economy. But when the US weaponized the SWIFT payment system against Russia, BRICS became the only viable solution for the rest of the world.

Reuters in New Delhi reported that last May, the State Bank of India rejected Indian Oil Corp’s planned payment in US dollars for Russian oil. And so they went to a private bank and settled their trade for Russian oil by paying in yuan to the Bank of China. And have continued to do so since

A shortage of US dollars in Argentina has caused commercial banks to allow the Chinese yuan as a form of currency in savings and checking accounts. Argentina has already been issuing securities in the Chinese yuan and has made a two-point-seven billion dollar payment to the International Monetary Fund using the Chinese BRICS currency.

The Federal Reserve Bank’s FedNow is scheduled for launch by the end of July. FedNow is officially an update to the Federal Reserve’s payment processing and settlement system. And appears to be a backdoor to creating a Central Bank Digital Currency. Private blockchain operator Tassat has partnered with the Federal Reserve’s new payment system and will serve as an interface for FedNow.

FedNow will also connect with Metal Blockchain, whose CEO and founder claims will allow banks to prepare for an eventual central bank digital currency, along with bank-issued stablecoins.

The idea of a Central Band Digital Currency is already hugely unpopular with the majority of Americans. But according to Dale Houser, it is being set up to destroy alternative blockchain solutions such as Ripple and Stellar. And if the powers that be are successful in destroying the US economy, then the only other option to accepting a CBDC would be some sort of revolution. Which would be nearly impossible seeing as how divided the populist movement is within the left/right paradigm.

Last week in China, the World Economic Forum proclaimed that the entire world needs to switch to a Central Bank Digital Currency with expiry dates and restrictions on undesirable purchases. They proposed using artificial intelligence to censor hate speech and disinformation on the internet. And using artificial intelligence to control a global social credit system that will involve wearable devices with sensors to monitor everyone’s actions.

If we the people fail to unite against the powers that be, then their solution will most certainly be world war, depopulation, and total control. And this is all happening right now.

Video and Transcript by Greg Reese from Infowars.

FedNope: Marjorie Taylor Greene Rejects Fed’s Digital Payment System

Arsenia Toledo, Natural News — Fri, 07 Apr 2023 08:18:46 +0000

Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia has rejected the upcoming Federal Reserve-backed central bank digital currency (CBDC) payment system and has called for the United States to return to the gold standard.

Greene was responding to news that the Fed was launching its own digital payment system. On Twitter, she shared an article from CNBC announcing that the payment system, “FedNow” would be launched in July.

“We should go back to the gold standard, not digital currency payment systems,” wrote Green on her Twitter account. “Hard pass.” (Related: Ron DeSantis to introduce legislation in Florida prohibiting the use of CBDCs in the state.)

Greene’s negative opinion of the Fed’s attempts to create a digital payment system, which they believe will pave the way for the eventual adoption of a CBDC, has been gaining traction among other members of Congress as well as their constituents.

Her statement also comes as many major economies around the world shift away from their reliance on the U.S. dollar and invest more in gold.

The U.S. only got off the gold standard in 1971, when former President Richard Nixon brought an end to the World War II-era Bretton Woods financial-economic system and transformed the international monetary system into a fiat-based one.

FedNow could give federal government control over how people spend their money

According to Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Tom Barkin, FedNow will create “a leading-edge payments system that is resilient, adaptive and accessible.” Barkin also serves as the program’s main executive sponsor.

The FedNow program will allow bill payments and money transfers such as paychecks and disbursements from the government. The FedNow program will also allow a whole host of other consumer activities that the Fed claims can be conducted more rapidly and at lower cost to the consumer.

The Fed further claimed that the FedNow system will be more convenient because participating institutions will have seven-day, 24-hour access to the system, as opposed to regular banking and payment systems that close on weekends.

The first participants of the FedNow program will complete a training and certification process by early April in preparation for the July launch.

“With the launch drawing near, we urge financial institutions and their industry partners to move full steam ahead with preparations to join the FedNow Service,” said Ken Montgomery, first vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and another program executive of FedNow.

Other program advocates claim the FedNow system will be able to get money out to people much more quickly, including government handouts like the payments issued to most of the population in the early days of the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

But critics of the program warn that FedNow could effectively give the federal government control over how people spend their money.

“A CBDC tied to digital ID and social credit score will allow the government to freeze your assets or limit your spending to approved vendors if you fail to comply with arbitrary diktats, i.e. vaccine mandates,” warned Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “CBDCs grease the slippery slope to financial slavery and political tyranny.”

“While cash transactions are anonymous, a CBDC will allow the government to surveil all our private financial affairs,” added Kennedy. “The central bank will have the power to enforce dollar limits on our transactions, restricting where you can send money, where you can spend it and when money expires.”

Watch this clip of Glenn Beck speaking with author Justin Haskins about how the Federal Reserve’s FedNow program will ultimately end with the introduction of a CBDC.

This video is from the channel High Hopes on Brighteon.com.

Central Bank Digital Currencies a “Foundational Threat” to America’s Economic Systems

Naveen Athrappully — Thu, 06 Apr 2023 02:33:01 +0000

Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) pose a foundational threat to America’s economic systems with absolutely no upsides, according to a recent analysis from the Cato Institute, which stressed that a U.S. CBDC will threaten citizens’ “core freedoms” from financial privacy to personal liberty.

Even though there are no valid reasons for the U.S. government to issue a CBDC when “the costs are so high and the benefits are so low,” significant efforts are being made by government officials and central bankers to launch the digital currency “in a bid to solidify government control over payments systems,” said the institute’s assessment report published Tuesday.

“As entrenched as this effort may already be, a U.S. CBDC would ultimately usurp the private sector and endanger Americans’ core freedoms.

“Therefore, it should have no place in the American economy. Congress should explicitly prohibit the Federal Reserve and the Department of the Treasury from issuing a CBDC in any form.”

While the Federal Reserve has not made any definitive plans or fixed a timeline regarding the launch of a CBDC, the agency has not concealed its enthusiasm for the project. Purported features like “safer” and “faster” are heavily touted, whereas focus on cons are rather limited.

The Biden administration has also thrown its support behind the CBDC project, releasing a paper last September analyzing the possibilities of introducing a digital dollar.

“If the United States pursued a CBDC, there could be many possible benefits, such as facilitating efficient and low-cost transactions, fostering greater access to the financial system, boosting economic growth, and supporting the continued centrality of the United States within the international financial system,” said the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy detailing the technical framework possibilities for a U.S. CBDC.

Financial Freedom and Privacy

The public sentiment in the United States is in the majority against introducing a CBDC in the country, evidenced by over two‐thirds of the 2,052 comment letters written by concerned citizens to the Fed opposing its plans for a digital dollar. Based on CATO analysis, commenters were concerned about CBDCs posing “a substantial threat to financial privacy, financial freedom, and the very foundation of the banking system.”

As a CBDC gives “the federal government complete visibility into every financial transaction by establishing a direct link between the government and each citizen’s financial activity,” the project is a direct attack against basic privacies as protected by the U.S. Constitution.

Any buffer—currently provided by institutions like banks and payment services—between the average citizen’s financial activity and governmental intrusion would immediately cease to exist as “all financial data would be only a keystroke away.”

Such unrestrained access leads to the inevitable establishment of governmental control over such activities, and it could be “preemptive (prohibiting and limiting purchases), behavioral (spurring and curbing purchases), or punitive (freezing and seizing funds).”

For example, the government could limit purchases to “essential” goods during state-imposed lockdowns, impose gun control, or even freeze an individual’s ability to access their own money.

“Aside from the basic programmability that a CBDC would offer for social and political control, one of its most common features is the ability to pay both positive and negative interest rates to curb and spur purchases,” which is impossible with cash—one of the main reasons why CBDC proponents are calling for eliminating cash from the system.

Free Markets Endangerment and Cybersecurity

Federal Reserve vice chair Lael Brainard had said that if CBDCs were widely adopted, it would disrupt the entire banking system because people would make direct central bank deposits bypassing retail institutions.

Although Fed researchers claim CBDCs offer a “helpful competition to the banks,” CATO concludes that the most probable outcome will be people leaving traditional banks as “it is difficult (if not impossible) to compete with the government.”

In such a scenario, CBDCs will have a monopolistic hold over the market. CATO pointed out that this is one of the reasons why governments around the world have been keen on eliminating alternative payment avenues like cryptocurrencies.

Similar to crypto, a disadvantage of using CBDCs is that they are prone to cybersecurity breaches and malicious hacking. A centralized digital dollar makes a very “attractive target for cyberattacks by giving threat actors a prominent platform on which to focus their efforts.”

While attacks on banks are not uncommon, it pales in significance when a CBDC breach exposes financial details of 333 million Americans.

FedNow and CBDC

On March 15, the Federal Reserve announced the FedNow Service, which will start operating in July. FedNow offers a nationwide “instant payment solution” for participating financial institutions and their industry partners. Those using the service can “send and receive instant payments at any time of day” with full access to funds immediately.

Fed governor Michelle Bowman said last year that FedNow could weaken CBDC-resistance via offering some of the same basic services of a digital dollar—a first step toward full CBDC adoption.

“FedNow appears to be a prototype CBDC,” Jordan Schachtel, publisher of “The Dossier” on Substack stated in a tweet. “While instant, 24/7 payments seems good, there’s implications to leaning into credit-based system. FedNow can quickly transform to a surveillance system.”

CATO concludes the report by recommending Congress to limit the Treasury Department’s authority to expand existing offerings and prohibit the agency from issuing a CBDC, and offering or maintaining accounts on behalf of individuals. This is done to prevent the agency from “further encroaching on the private sector” despite promises of financial inclusion and faster payments.

Article cross-posted from our premium news partners at The Epoch Times.