SWIFT Planning Launch of Central Bank Digital Currency Trading Platform in 12 Months


Posted originally on the CTH on March 25, 2024 | Sundance 

If you followed my research on banking and the reality of the Russian sanction regime, this report from Reuters today takes on an entirely new dimension.

ME: …”The same way the Patriot Act was not designed to stop terrorism but rather to create a domestic surveillance system. So too were the “Russian Sanctions” not designed to sanction Russia, but rather to create the financial control system that will lead to a USA digital currency. The Western sanctions created a financial wall around the USA (dollar-based west), not to keep Russia out, but to keep us in.  The Western sanction regime, the financial mechanisms they created and authorized, created the control gate that leads to a U.S. digital currency.” (more)

REUTERS TODAY: …”The firm [SWIFT] has gone from being virtually unknown outside banking circles to a household name since 2022 when it cut most of Russia’s banks off from its network as part of the West’s sanctions for the invasion of Ukraine. (more)

[The map shows the global financial cleaving, an outcome of sanctions against Russia]

I first started to deep dive research into these CBDC datapoints when the Russian sanctions were triggered.

You see, nothing about the sanctions really made sense from the way they were structured. Never before, not with Iran, North Korea, Venezuela or Cuba was the dollar weaponized against any entity who did not conform to the sanctions. Additionally, the intensity of the drive to make the sanctions the tip of the Western spear was just too pointed; something about it didn’t make sense. That’s what took me to dig deep into the sanction impact and realize nothing said about these financial sanctions made sense when compared against their actual outcome. {Go Deep}.

So, let’s start with the latest development:

(Reuters) – Global bank messaging network SWIFT is planning a new platform in the next one to two years to connect the wave of central bank digital currencies now in development to the existing finance system, it has told Reuters.

The move, which would be one of the most significant yet for the nascent CBDC ecosystem given SWIFT’s key role in global banking, is likely to be fine-tuned to when the first major ones are launched.

Around 90% of the world’s central banks are now exploring digital versions of their currencies. Most don’t want to be left behind by bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, but are grappling with technological complexities.

SWIFT’s head of innovation, Nick Kerigan, said its latest trial, which took 6 months and involved a 38-member group of central banks, commercial banks and settlement platforms, had been one of the largest global collaborations on CBDCs and “tokenised” assets to date.

“We are looking at a roadmap to productize (launch as a product) in the next 12-24 months,” Kerigan said in an interview. “It’s moving out of experimental stage towards something that is becoming a reality.”

Although the timeframe could still shift if major economy CBDC launches get delayed, getting out the blocks for when they do would be a major boost for maintaining SWIFT’s incumbent dominance in the bank-to-bank plumbing network.

[…] A raft of heavyweight commercial banks including HSBC, Citibank, Deutsche Bank, Societe Generale, Standard Chartered and the CLS FX settlement platform all took part too, as did at least two banks from China.

The idea is that once the interlink solution is scaled-up, banks would have one main global connection point able to handle digital asset payments, rather than thousands if they were to set up an individual one with every counterparty. (read more)

The sanction regime against Russia was always intended to generate this outcome.  This is the feature of the sanctions, not a flaw.

This dollar based CBDC was the intended destination of the people who constructed the Russian sanction plan (ex. BlackRock/WEF types).  The Western politicians then were recruited and given instructions to support.  Their cover story was “Build Back Better,” ie climate change, which was the predicate to the Russian sanctions.

I know at first blush a lot of this CBDC discussion seems esoteric, difficult to understand, and there are a lot of other issues happening simultaneously in the background. However, if you contemplate the biggest threat on this overarching power arc of Western government, you arrive to understand how serious this seemingly opaque issue really is.

2022 – NEW YORK, March 24 (Reuters) – BlackRock Inc’s (BLK.N) chief executive, Larry Fink, said on Thursday that the Russia-Ukraine war could end up accelerating digital currencies as a tool to settle international transactions, as the conflict upends the globalization drive of the last three decades.

In a letter to the shareholders of the world’s largest asset manager, Fink said the war will push countries to reassess currency dependencies, and that BlackRock was studying digital currencies and stablecoins due to increased client interest.

A global digital payment system, thoughtfully designed, can enhance the settlement of international transactions while reducing the risk of money laundering and corruption”, he said.

[…] In the letter on Thursday, the chairman and CEO of the $10 trillion asset manager said the Russia-Ukraine crisis had put an end to the globalization forces at work over the past 30 years.

[…] “While companies’ and consumers’ balance sheets are strong today, giving them more of a cushion to weather these difficulties, a large-scale reorientation of supply chains will inherently be inflationary,” said Fink.

He said central banks were dealing with a dilemma they had not faced in decades, having to choose between living with high inflation or slowing economic activity to contain price pressures.  (read more)

When the White House first started openly saying the Biden administration was reviewing how to implement CBDC’s, yes THAT Announcement ACTUALLY HAPPENED, September 2022, things from a research perspective really started to get serious. “While the U.S. has not yet decided whether it will pursue a CBDC, the U.S. has been closely examining the implications of, and options for, issuing a CBDC.”  Whenever the U.S. govt says they’re “undecided,” pay close attention.

First things first with the Western financial sanctions- specifically the SWIFT exchange.  It is true you cannot use VISA, Mastercard or any mainstream Western financial tools to conduct business in Russia; however, the number of workarounds for this issue are numerous.  One of those tools is the use of a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin; and within that reality, you find something very ominous about the USA motive against crypto.

(Newsmax) – JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon on Wednesday suggested bitcoin currency should be banned.  Dimon was speaking during a Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing on Capitol Hill.

“I’ve always been deeply opposed to crypto, bitcoin, etc.,” Dimon said in response to a question from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. “The only true use case for it is criminals, drug traffickers … money laundering, tax avoidance because it is somewhat anonymous, not fully, and because you can move money instantaneously.  “If I was the government, I would close it down.” (read more)

Dimon was/is positioning JPMorgan to be one of the facilitating beneficiaries of the financial control system evident within any CBDC process.

The US Treasury has set the financial system on an almost irreversible path to a U.S. Central Bank Digital Currency.  As direct consequence, crypto currency alternatives are a threat to the establishment of that Western objective.  This reality also pulls in the explanation around why the USA is so all-in for the banker-driven World War Reddit – the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Conflict with Russia created the opportunity for the USA to create a sanctions regime that doesn’t truly sanction Russia; instead it controls the world of USA dollar-based finance.  At the end of that control mechanism is a digital dollar, a Central Bank Digital Currency…. and by extension full control over U.S. citizen activity.  The Marxist holy grail.

Take those reference points as an overlay, and now consider this little discussed 2022 announcement from the Biden administration:

[White House] – President Biden often summarizes his vision for America in one word: Possibilities. A “digital dollar” may seem far-fetched, but modern technology could make it a real possibility.

A United States central bank digital currency (CBDC) would be a digital form of the U.S. dollar. While the U.S. has not yet decided whether it will pursue a CBDC, the U.S. has been closely examining the implications of, and options for, issuing a CBDC. If the U.S. 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 U.S. within the international financial system. However, a U.S. CBDC could also introduce a variety of risks, as it might affect everything ranging from the stability of the financial system to the protection of sensitive data.

Notably, these benefits and risks might vary significantly based on how the CBDC system is designed and deployed. That is why Executive Order 14067, Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets, placed the highest urgency on research and development efforts into the potential design and deployment options of a U.S. CBDC. The Executive Order directed the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), in consultation with other Federal departments and agencies, to submit to the President a technical evaluation for a potential U.S. CBDC system.

Today, OSTP is publishing its report, Technical Evaluation for a U.S. Central Bank Digital Currency System, which lays out policy objectives for a potential U.S. CBDC system and analyzes key technical design choices for a U.S. CBDC system. The report also estimates the technical feasibility of building a CBDC minimum viable product and describes how a U.S. CBDC system might affect Federal operations. The report makes recommendations on how to prepare the Federal Government for a U.S. CBDC system. Importantly, the report does not make any assessments or recommendations about whether the U.S. should pursue a CBDC, nor does it make any decisions regarding particular design choices for a potential U.S. CBDC system.  (read more)

When you read that full announcement, you realize they have already built the system.

If the system is built, and they are now making policy recommendations for implementation, the question becomes, ‘What’s the goal’?

We do not have to look far for the explanation.

Prior to the White House announcement, the World Government Summit 2022 took place on March 29 and 30 in Dubai, hosting more than 4,000 individuals from 190 countries including senior government officials, heads of international organizations, and global “experts.”   The invited participants presented ideas and worldviews from within their various fields of specialty.

One presentation was from Dr. Pippa Malmgren, an American economist who served as special adviser on Economic Policy to President George W. Bush.

Her father, Harald Malmgren, served as a senior aide to US Presidents John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Gerald Ford.   In this segment, Mrs. Malmgren says the quiet part out loud.  Yes, they are no longer hiding the construct; indeed, as you will hear, they are saying quite openly what the future will look like.  WATCH (2 minutes):

[Full Source – 6 hours (internal segment at 18:30)]

Transcript – Dr. Malmgren: “What underpins a world order is always the financial system. I was very privileged. My father was an adviser to Nixon when they came off the gold standard in 71. And so, I was brought up with a kind of inside view of how very important the financial structure is to absolutely everything else.

And what we’re seeing in the world today, I think, is we are on the brink of a dramatic change where we are about to, and I’ll say this boldly, we’re about to abandon the traditional system of money and accounting and introduce a new one. And the new one. The new accounting is what we call blockchain.

It means digital, it means having a almost perfect record of every single transaction that happens in the economy, which will give us far greater clarity over what’s going on. It also raises huge dangers in terms of the balance of power between states and citizens.

In my opinion, we’re going to need a digital constitution of human rights if we’re going to have digital money. But also this new money will be sovereign in nature. Most people think that digital money is crypto, and private. But what I see our superpowers introducing digital currency, the Chinese were the first the US is on the brink, I think of moving in the same direction the Europeans have committed to that as well.

And the question is, will that new system of digital money and digital accounting accommodate the competing needs of the citizens of all these locations, so that every human being has a chance to have a better life? Because that’s the only measure of whether a world order really serves!”

The entry into a digital currency, needs a digital identity.

The end goal of a digital currency is why Western political leaders have not been worried about following the COVID-19 spending demands from the World Economic Forum. {Go Deep}

When the global trade currency does not need to be pegged, it is completely fiat.  This is the current problem with global trade and transactions taking place in U.S. dollars, which arbitrarily lifts the standard of life for Americans while providing no similar benefit to other nations. That view became the underlying motive for Osama Bin Laden to target the World Trade Center, Twin Towers.  That view was/is also the perspective carried by Barack Obama, that lay behind his “fundamental change” statement.

A digital currency allows ultimate control, on a global basis, by a one world government, or Western system of collective governments, that can assign value.  No other mechanism will have as much control over the life of a person than a digital currency that will create a system of transactional credits and debits, perhaps also influenced by your social credit score.

Can it be stopped?  I struggle with that question.  I look in the mirror, think about the reality of how many people think this is an absurd conspiracy theory, and respond with…. How many people even know about the thing you are asking them to oppose?

How many people would believe the Western sanctions against Russia were really the USG building a cage to keep us in?  Information, we need to start there.  That’s my answer.

During remarks in New Hampshire, President Trump announced he would never allow the creation of a central bank digital currency.  WATCH:

.

Of course, it should be noted….. as if the entire global system didn’t already oppose Donald Trump, this position against CBDC’s just puts an exclamation point on how the multinational financial systems will hate/oppose him even more.

This 2024 election is critical for a variety of reasons.  However, high atop that list is this issue of how a dollar based CBDC is a threat to every liberty we cherish.

We will win this battle and eventually this war, or I’ll die fighting it.

They are trying to move fast, because people are catching on now.

We are on the right side of every issue; we cherish liberty and individual freedom.  Our opposition is built upon a foundation of fraud and lies.  The politicians are corrupt, and their arguments collapse when put in the sunlight; but they are not the root of the problem – they are vessels.  That’s why the multinationals like BlackRock need the rules and referees (politicians) slanted in their favor.  That’s why they need censorship, deplatforming, and beyond everything else…. they must control information.

The key battle right now is an information war.

Tell your family, friends, neighbors.  At first, they may think you are crazy, don’t quit. Share the information. Use the internal citations to help you bolster your arguments.  Don’t quit planting seeds of information, and then update with additional information as it surfaces.  Keep driving the awakening.

PAX


Posted originally on Mar 13, 2024 By Martin Armstrong 

Augustus AR Cistoporus PAX of Ephesus

COMMENT: I have investigated what you have said about our Western leaders. From the US to Britain, the Balkans, France, Poland, and Germany, they all want war. I am 77 now. My whole life was about creating peace. I remember Richard Nixon opening China and dividing it from Russia. I believe you are correct.  There is no explanation for everyone seeking war other than to hide their appalling government mismanagement.

Thank you for your analysis. It is always unmatched.

GKB

Athens Owl 449 413BC Egyptian Imitation

REPLY: History repeats, and human nature never changes. We have the model from Rome, the greatest empire ever created. The Pax Romana was achieved by everyone benefiting in their economic relations. Once these people removed Russia from the SWIFT system, they condemned the United States to its demise. The rise of the BRICS has nothing to do with fiat money. All money has always been fiat. From ancient times, we find imitation coinage of the dominant economy being created by other regions, showing that there was always a premium over the metal content if it was a coin of the dominant economy like the US dollar today. Here is an imitation of an Athenian Owl stuck by the Egyptians, who never had coins until they were conquered nearly 100 years later by Alexander the Great. They issued imitation Athenian Owls because they were the currency of international trade.

Julius Caesar AR Denarius Imitation Genuine

Even the Celts, when Julius Caesar conquered Europe, still imitated his coinage. The metal was virtually the same, so it was a counterfeit but an imitation. The Celts still used Roman coinage for their monetary system.

Celtic Imitation of Greek Stater Philip II

Even 300 years before Caesar, when the Macedonians were the dominant economic power of Phillip II and his son Alexander the Great, we find Celtic imitations of Macedonian gold where they at least tried to imitate the design.

Julio Claudian Imitations

Even after Caesar conquered Europe, we find Germanic imitations of Roman bronze coinage. Once more, they could have created their own coinage but imitated the coinage of Rome.

Faustina Sr Imitations

As trade expanded with India, we find a series of Indian imitations of Roman gold coinage running the course of 300 years. We see Celtic imitations of Roman coinage as well as Germanic coinage, which also ran for about 300 years.

Leo I Siliqua Imitation

The fact that we have hundreds of years of imitations of the dominant economy PROVES beyond a shadow of a doubt that the coinage was NOT based on the metal content; there was always a premium applied to the dominant currency in the world at that time.

Fiat Money

This entire nonsense that the dollar is just a fiat currency is absurd. The value of ANY currency is the strength of its economy. The dollar has been the RESERVE currency BECAUSE everyone wanted to sell their products to American consumers.

Pax Romana 2

The PAX Romana took place BECAUSE all the conquered lands found it was beneficial to be part of the empire, for they could sell their products. World Peace was created by allowing free trade as the Romans did. Then, the people would oppose any local politician preaching war, for it would cut off their income. We were on the verge of world peace before COVID-19, when everyone participated in the world economy. Today, that has all been destroyed. Peace is no longer fashionable – it is hatred and war that now define world leaders.

This is a lesson our Politicians Must Learn, and the Neocons in

America – Europe – Russia – China

at really the enemies of the people. 

War is never created by the people – only by the elites in power.


As King Louis XIV of France said on his deathbed:

Louis XIV War

No Cash Accepted


Posted originally on Jan 29, 2024 By Martin Armstrong |

cashless society electronic money

Businesses are increasingly preventing customers from using cash as NO CASH ACCEPTED signs line Main Street. No federal law requires businesses to accept cash, but some states and cities have implemented laws mandating businesses to do so. COVID accelerated the push toward a cashless society, as physical cash was seen as unhygienic. Then the US mint faced a physical currency shortage as Americans hoarded their cash. Cashless businesses are now widely accepted and normalized in our society.

Around 6 million Americans who do not have a bank account, and therefore are blocked from participating in our cashless society. This particularly impacts the poorest in our nation, as a recent survey found that 40% of unbanked individuals do not have enough liquidity to meet the minimum balance required by banks. The FDIC found that one-third of respondents simply do not trust the banks and prefer cash for privacy purposes.

Then there are those who use prepaid cards or tools like CashApp that fall in “underbanked” bracket. The latest estimate found that 19 million households fall under this category. Combined, one in five Americans are either unbanked or underbanked, and according to the government, these individuals are merely attempting to avoid taxation.

Another lesser known fact is that banks often charge stores for physical currency. Additionally, the costs of providing and handling physical currency, such as the need for security, transportation, and storage make it more costly for businesses to use cash. The crime wave across blue cities is a contributing factor as well, as it is not uncommon to see signs stating that a business does not have cash on hand to deter thieves.

There is no federal law that requires banks to charge for change, but federal law generally allows banks to charge non-interest charges and fees. Interchange fees are transaction fees that the merchant’s bank must pay whenever a customer uses a credit/debit card to make a purchase, which is why you will often see a surcharge of around 3% at certain businesses to cover this expense. So businesses are faced with fees for all transactions whether they go the cash or card route.

JunkFeesBanking

The 2010 Dodd-Frank ruling permitted businesses to set a credit card minimum of $10, as the interchange fees nulled the profits on small purchases. Debit cards are treated as cash, whereby there is no set minimum by law.

They will soon force the unbanked and underbanked into the banking system, which is one of the reasons why the Biden Administration continually talks about erasing junk fees so that the 40% who claim they cannot meet the minimum balance are not excluded from government oversight. The push for a cashless society is a global phenomenon tied to the DPI and other initiatives that aim to centralize our individual data.

Big Picture – Ed Dowd is Correct in This Review: Every Opaque Action in Western Government is Aligned Toward a Dollar-Based CBDC


Posted originally on the CTH on January 26, 2024 | Sundance 

In this brief video below {Direct Rumble Link Here} Former Blackrock portfolio manager, Ed Dowd, explains why every last remnant of human freedom depends on mass resistance to Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). “Once the central bank digital currency is linked to all your credit cards and bank accounts, then social controls can be implemented. If you’re a dissenter like me, talking about truth, they shut you down.” WATCH:

I know at first blush a lot of this CBDC discussion seems esoteric, difficult to understand, and there are a lot of other issues happening simultaneously in the background. However, if you contemplate the biggest threat on this overarching power arc of western government, you arrive to understand how serious this seemingly opaque issue really is.

I first started to deep dive research into these CBDC datapoints when the Russian sanctions were triggered. You see, nothing about them really makes sense from the way they were structured; additionally, the intensity of the drive to make the sanctions the tip of the western spear was just too pointed, something about it didn’t make sense. That’s what took me to dig deep into the impact and realize nothing said about these financial sanctions makes sense when compared against their actual irrelevance {Go Deep}.

When the White House first started openly saying the Biden administration was reviewing how to implement CBDC’s, yes THAT Announcement ACTUALLY HAPPENED, September 2022, then things from a research perspective really started to get serious. “While the U.S. has not yet decided whether it will pursue a CBDC, the U.S. has been closely examining the implications of, and options for, issuing a CBDC.”  Whenever the U.S. govt says they’re “undecided,” pay close attention.

First things first with the Western financial sanctions- specifically the SWIFT exchange.  It is true you cannot use VISA, Mastercard or any mainstream Western financial tools to conduct business in Russia; however, the number of workarounds for this issue are numerous.  One of those tools is the use of a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin; and within that reality, you find something very ominous about the USA motive against crypto.

(Newsmax) – JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon on Wednesday suggested bitcoin currency should be banned.  Dimon was speaking during a Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing on Capitol Hill.

“I’ve always been deeply opposed to crypto, bitcoin, etc.,” Dimon said in response to a question from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. “The only true use case for it is criminals, drug traffickers … money laundering, tax avoidance because it is somewhat anonymous, not fully, and because you can move money instantaneously.  “If I was the government, I would close it down.” (read more)

Dimon was/is positioning JPMorgan to be a facilitating beneficiary of the financial control system evident within any CBDC process.

Here’s how it really looks from the outside looking at the USA.  The same way the Patriot Act was not designed to stop terrorism but rather to create a domestic surveillance system. So too were the “Russian Sanctions” not designed to sanction Russia, but rather to create the financial control system that will lead to a USA digital currency.

The Western sanctions created a financial wall around the USA, not to keep Russia out, but to keep us in.  The Western sanction regime, the financial mechanisms they created and authorized, creates the control gate that leads to a U.S. digital currency.

Now, does the exploding debt and seeming govt ambivalence, the stuff Ed Dowd is talking about, take on a new perspective?  It should, because that unspoken motive explains everything.  It all just makes sense when reviewed through this prism of motive and intent.  Again, the western sanctions against Russia are not having an impact against Russia; they are having a quiet impact in the USA and western dollar-based economic system that no one is permitted to talk about.

Bottom line, the non-pretending reasoning.  The US Treasury has set the financial system on an almost unreversible path to a U.S. Central Bank Digital Currency.  As direct consequence crypto currency alternatives are a threat to the establishment of that western objective.  This reality also pulls in the explanation around why the USA is so all-in for the banker-driven World War Reddit, the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

How did the Obama administration go from all efforts to be on good relations with Russia 2009 through 2015, then suddenly pivot to the exact opposite with the Trump-Russia collusion conspiracy, the Russian election interference nonsense, the expulsion of Russian diplomats in Dec/Jan 2017 and suddenly Vladimir Putin as the archvillain for the world?   Apparently, few have ever really asked how that happened.

Here’s the big picture, as seen through the prism of the EU and the non-pretenders in Eastern Europe.

The Marxists in the Obama admin needed a boogeyman in order to pull off their domestic heist and secure the “fundamental change.”  The CIA and State Dept were deployed to utilize Ukraine in 2014 to create the boogeyman, Russia.  Ukraine would be the stick to poke Russia.  The USA needed a proxy; they created one and made the participants rich.

Provoked, Russia fell into the trap and took control of Crimea as they perceived the NATO expansion and likely control of the Black Sea as a threat.  The Crimea move gave the CIA and State Dept the exact response they intended.

The Russia boogeyman was created.

But why?  Why would the effort of the U.S. Government be to provoke and create this crisis?

In the biggest of big pictures, the domestic fundamental change needed it.  We needed a reason to put walls around the U.S – not to keep Russia out, but to keep Americans locked in.  Conflict with Russia became the Obama version of Bush’s conflict with Iraq.  Putin now cast to play the role of Bin Laden.

The Patriot Act was never intended to stop foreign terrorists from attacking the USA.  The Patriot Act was intended to create the DHS surveillance system for domestic control.  It succeeded.   The Russian sanctions were never intended to sanction Russia (and they don’t).  The Western sanctions against Russia were intended to build walls around the U.S. financial system.

Ostracizing the world’s global trade currency, the dollar, from the global trade system was/is a necessary step in controlling domestic currency.  If there is a threat, the government needs to respond. That’s how the crisis is created and not wasted.

Yes, what I am saying is there was a longer and deeper play afoot, a ‘trillions at stake’ game by those who control money and power, using foreign threat as the justification for something that just would not be possible without it.  That’s why Trump was never allowed to breathe for a moment, whenever Russia or Vladimir Putin was mentioned.  The control forces needed Trump to be adversarial to Russia, regardless of whether the threat was real.  After all, it was supposed to be a willfully blind Hillary Clinton in place during this phase.

Conflict with Russia created the opportunity for the USA to create a sanctions regime that doesn’t truly sanction Russia, instead it controls the world of USA finance.  At the end of that control mechanism is a digital dollar, a Central Bank Digital Currency…. and by extension full control over U.S. citizen activity.  The Marxist holy grail.

That moment is closer than most can fathom, and that is exactly why the counterforce of a cryptocurrency, a rebellious mechanism for free people to exchange payment for goods and services, must be stopped by the same USG that is triggering the CBDC.   Crypto is a threat.  Jamie Dimon, along with all the major banks and financial institutions, is one key beneficiary that CBDC (a transactional player for fees therein) so long as JPMorgan stays on task.

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon opposes cryptocurrency.

Democrats, really Marxists, oppose cryptocurrency.

Republicans, really financial beneficiaries of the largesse, oppose crypto currency.

The narrative…. Only criminals, that means those who would be defined as domestic terrorists like pesky remnants of our nation who demand freedom and liberty, would support cryptocurrency.  Criminals, tax cheats, bad people support crypto.  Don’t be a bad person comrade citizen.  Insert vote, pull lever, get pellet, go back to sleep.  You will own nothing and be happy comrade.

Yes, that’s the bigger picture.

Can it be stopped?  I laugh, look in the mirror, think about the reality of how many people think this is an absurd conspiracy theory, and respond with…. How many people even know about the thing you are asking to oppose?

How many people would believe the Western sanctions against Russia were really the USG building a cage to keep us in.  How about we start there.  That’s my answer.

During remarks in New Hampshire, President Trump announced he would never allow the creation of a central bank digital currency.  WATCH:

.

Of course, it should be noted….. As if the entire global system didn’t already oppose Donald Trump, this position against CBDC’s just puts an exclamation point on how the multinational financial systems will hate/oppose him even more.

This 2024 election is critical for a variety of reasons.  However, high atop that list is this issue of how a dollar based CBDC is a threat to every liberty we cherish.

Digital IDs Ramping Up in Australia


Posted originally on Dec 4, 2023 By Martin Armstrong 

Digital Identity Chart

Australian federal Finance Minister, Senator Katy Gallagher, has introduced legislation for a national digital ID. The new program aims to create a single platform that unites a person’s identification documents and connects it with government services such as myGov, Centrelink, and the Australian Tax Office. The government claims that the digital ID will have strong privacy provisions built in; however, the information is accessible to both the public and private sectors.

The Ministerial Digital ID Expert Panel has stated the program will cost $1.5 billion annually. The digital ID will contain sensitive documents such as a person’s birth certificate, driver’s license, and passport.  The current AGDIS program will  be phased out as this national ID is all-encompassing. As of October, over 10.5 million Australians have already enrolled in the program.

Liberal Senator Alex Antic has emassed nearly 95,000 signatures on his online petition to scrap the “digital identity power grab.” The petition states:“The Labor government wants to take your most sensitive personal data. They want to cram it into a central government-run database – the perfect target for a hacker. They want to generate a ‘digital identity’ with this data. Then they will force you to use this ‘digital identity’ to transact online or access online services. The worst part? This is the first step in a Chinese-style social credit system. If you don’t toe the line, your ‘digital identity’ could be cancelled, meaning you’d be cut off from the world of online services that people now rely on. This is a fundamental threat to your freedom and our democracy. You and I need to send a strong message now that Australians will not take this lying down.”

The Australian government created the program with “input from various stakeholders,” a nod to who will own your data. After passing the legislation, the government plans to incorporate state and territory-issued IDs to the framework. Then, the government will link the system with the private sector. Banks and other agencies will have access to your financial information through the digital ID.

Australia’s government has failed to protect user data numerous times. Webber Insurance found 44 data breaches in the first six months of this year alone. Last year, the data of over 12 million Australians containing sensitive information such as medical records was leaked from the Tax Office. There were reports of hackers selling MyGov accounts for a mere $1 USD.

This policy is a gross infringement on human rights and privacy. The government does not need to track us like cattle. Worse, why are they selling personal data to the private sector and how will that data be kept securely? The Australian government showed just how tyrannical it has become after the COVID lockdowns and is ushering in this new reality of government surveillance. The goal is to build a GLOBAL database where we will all be accessible through the click of a mouse.

Gold – Bitcoin & CBDCs Re-Posted Nov 15, 2023 By Martin Armstrong 


WEC_2023_Gold

QUESTION: Will you be covering the CBDC and gold? How about Bitcoin?

EH

ANSWER: Of Course. Our views have exceeded 600,000, so we have expanded the virtual availability to attend the conference. Over 37 countries are tuning in this year. This is a broadly based global conference.

Welcome to the World of No Privacy Re-Posted Nov 3, 2023 By Martin Armstrong 


Nazi Papers Please

I have been buying ancient coins at public auction, probably since the 1970s. Now, you cannot buy anything anywhere without providing full identification of who you are. This is an email I got from another European auction house.

ALUM BAR

Dear customer,

With regards to our business relationship, and following the legal obligations of the Principality of Monaco, could you please send us :

– Your ID card, or the one of the legal representative of your company.

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Pix System in Brazil


Armstrong Economics Blog/International News Re-Posted Sep 21, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

You likely have not heard of the Pix system unless you live in Brazil. Pix is an “instant payment ecosystem” launched on November 16, 2020, by Brazil’s central bank (BCB). Pix primarily works through the use of QR codes that users use to access their digital accounts for payments. The pandemic helped push people to digitalized banking, and now the system has surpassed the use of credit and debit cards.

About 30% of all transactions in 2022 happened on the Pix system, compared to only 20% via credit cards and 19% on debit cards. Three billion monthly transactions take place through Pix and that figure continues to grow. “The adoption of Pix in society has been very intense,” commented Carlos Eduardo Brandt, head of Pix Operations at the Central Bank of Brazil. Two-thirds of the entire population of Brazil now uses Pix as it has become ingrained in everyday life. Cash transactions are in decline, dropping by a quarter since 2020. However, Brazilians once preferred cash and those in rural areas accepted their wages in the Real.

The International Monetary Fund is pleased with the success of Pix and has been studying its success. The IMF published a study this July entitled, “Pix: Brazil’s Successful Instant Payment System.” “The authorities are now able to track monthly payment and related economic activity on a granular basis by geographical location, types of transactions, and borrowers, including by age group,” the study notes. The IMF says that mandatory participation by the big banks was one of the contributing factors to Pix’s adaptation.

Every central bank is developing its own CBDC. The goal of the globalists is to combine these digital currencies into one centralized database. Although Pix is not a CBDC, it has served the purpose of acclimating the banks, merchants, and users to the idea of a cashless society.

Debanking Gold Dealers


Armstrong Economics Blog/Banking Crisis Re-Posted Aug 28, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

I reported previously that a dealer I knew suddenly had his credit line closed. I have warned that besides banks preparing for the coming CBCDs closing local branches in the USA as well as in Britain, I seriously question if they will allow people to buy precious metals and use cryptocurrencies post-CBDC. This is about control, and they want to shut down what they view as the underground economy, which they estimate is 20%-35%, and this is about increasing their taxation to automatic theft. This is the net result of Direct Taxation, which the Founding Fathers warned would happen, so they prohibited any form of Direct Taxation in the Constitution. The Socialists seized power and pushed for the income tax in 1913, and that has been a slow grinding process that led to eventually owning nothing and being very miserable – not happy.

Welcome to the Tyranny of Republics that NEVER Represent the People as History Warns

Hard Currencies – Fiat v Legal Tender


Armstrong Economics Blog/Great Reset Re-Posted Aug 2, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

A man attempted to purchase strawberries with cash at an Aldi grocery store in the UK, possibly leading to his arrest. They want us to adjust to the cashless society that will implement globally by the World Economic Forum under its Digital Currency Governance Consortium. Some call cash “hard currency” to further differentiate it from the coming digital world of finance. Piers Corbyn, who happens to be the brother of British Labour Party leader Piers Corbyn, has gone viral for what many are calling an act of rebellion against the globalists.

The Aldi in Greenwich only accepts payments through the Aldi App. Aldi implemented this measure during COVID and never repealed it. Stores are commonly banning all cash transactions, and it is legal for them to deny cash. These stores may not realize that the WEF will soon implement one “globally coordinated approach to [digital currency] regulation” and their individual apps will be obsolete.

As for Corbyn, he placed his cash on the counter and left the store with his strawberries. People cheered as he left the store. Aldi employees called the authorities. “I’m offering exactly the right amount of money here,” he announced, “I’ve paid my legal tender.”

“Legal tender” is merely any form of payment accepted by law. So while the “hard currency” produced by the Royal Mint may be considered legal tender to some, the grey area here is that sellers do not need to accept it as a form of payment. So what was once a commonly accepted legal tender is now fiat, containing no intrinsic value without the backing of CONFIDENCE.

When the gold coin was money during the 19th century, it rose and fell in purchasing power no different than any paper currency. You cannot walk into a grocery today and pay in gold. People only accepted paper money because they knew others would accept it as a form of payment. Fiat is simply an arbitrary decree.

Governments are telling the people loud and clear that cash will be phased out. They are making us accustomed to the idea, gaslighting us into thinking digital is more convenient. The truth of the matter is that the day will come when they ask us all to turn in our “hard currencies” in exchange for CBDC. I applaud this man for his act of bravery and hope he was not arrested over a pint of strawberries.