The Invasion of the Digital Dollar
There is indeed something that large governments like about Bitcoin. It exists on a blockchain, which means that each and every financial transaction that is made (including minor purchases) is recorded and can be retrieved. Thus, being able to access this information would allow them to monitor every commercial action done by every citizen and end the last vestiges of financial privacy.
Think about that. Every transaction from the hamburger you ordered at McDonald’s… to the donation you gave your church… to the news channels and streaming services you subscribe to… to every toll booth you went through on your trip out west.
This is a dream world for big government. There would be no corporate or bank crime that couldn’t be detected, no theft that couldn’t be tracked, no commercial or financial transaction that couldn’t be audited and prosecuted. Nor would there be a dime’s worth of tax avoidance. The government would have 100% control not only of money supply, but of money flow and money location and, most importantly, money “management.” Governments would, in effect, be the mediators of our money. Like children on an allowance, every decision we made about saving, spending, investing, or even giving away our money would be subject to government monitoring and approval.
That’s what big government people like about Bitcoin. What they don’t like is that it is virtually impossible for anyone, including the government, to get access to any of this financial information, because access to the blockchain is not available without a secret key code that only the Bitcoin owner has.
But don’t be deceived. When the government wants to, it can and will get hold of those codes. Not with cyber technology, but with very rudimentary technology – guns, handcuffs, and jail. (My young, Bitcoin-owning, Libertarian friends tell me they would never surrender their key codes. I shake my head.)
The reason that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies haven’t yet been made illegal is precisely because, for the moment at least, they pose no threat to the dollar. And yet, as digital currencies, they make us comfortable with currencies that can be meticulously monitored and controlled.
This is how I think the government will gradually make its move:
Step 1. Quietly encourage the use of digital currencies, particularly those introduced by Google, Amazon, Apple, and other big government allies.
Step 2. Introduce the Digital Dollar, with little or no fanfare to avoid scrutiny.
Step 3. Subordinate the Big Tech currencies to the Digital Dollar, also as discreetly as possible.
Step 4. Begin a national campaign (supported by Big Tech) against Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as vehicles for crime.
Step 5. Outlaw cryptocurrencies. Offer free exchange for the Digital Dollar (or any of its subordinate, Big Tech equivalencies).
Step 6. Go after those that do not surrender their cryptocurrencies. Most – probably 80% – will capitulate when faced with the threat of prison. The other 20% will be in prison, unable to use their cryptos.
At that point, the Digital Dollar will take over, and the government (and Big Tech) will have full financial control of its citizens.
Does that seem crazy?
Maybe it is. But China is already up to Step 2.
Click here to read an interesting take on this (sent in by JM).