New WEF Report Doubles Down on CBDC

World Economic Forum Backs Central Bank Digital Currencies and Digital Identity, Calls for Joint Public-Private Sector Efforts in Finance

The World Economic Forum (WEF) keeps vigorously pushing for the inception of not only central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) for the masses, but also a wholesale variant, wCBDC, designed for interbank payments and securities transactions. It's almost laughable how frequently top-tier financial institutions and banks reference WEF reports while justifying their own ventures in this arena.

Yet, in a remarkable display of doublespeak, a fresh WEF report, jointly produced with Accenture and titled “Modernizing Financial Markets with Wholesale Central Bank Digital Currency (wCBDC),” asserts that the group does not explicitly “advocate” for the issuance of wCBDCs. One might wonder, is this a deliberate attempt to obscure their true intentions, or a simple case of miscommunication?

However, the plot thickens when the same report, touted as a “critical analysis,” blatantly contradicts itself. At one point, it explicitly “advocates for collaboration among central banks, commercial banks and financial market infrastructures to use wCBDC to address interbank payment and securities transaction challenges.” This begs the question: if the WEF isn't championing for wCBDCs, then what exactly are they championing for?

The World Economic Forum, a gathering of global elites, appears to be acutely aware of the contentious nature of Central Bank Digital Currencies. It seems they are attempting to navigate the issue of their own involvement, as it may not bode well for democratically elected governments if the WEF is perceived as the primary driving force behind these schemes. However, despite this balancing act, the WEF's intent to position itself at the forefront of incoming policies is evident.

In a report that reads like a blueprint for authoritarianism, censorship, and surveillance, the WEF extols the virtues of wCBDCs, describing them as a means to modernize financial markets through their “transformative potential.” However, the report emphasizes that achieving this vision necessitates “deep public-private sector collaboration” – a notion that - like most things the WEF advocates for - raises concerns about the potential erosion of individual privacy and autonomy.

The WEF has seemingly been at the helm of crafting a policy framework for the global adoption of (w)CBDCs, and the report offers glowing praise for these digital currencies. It is worth noting that the WEF proposes the adoption of “digital identity networks” – a concept that seems straight out of a dystopian novel.

The report asserts that 98% of the world's central banks are either researching, piloting, or already deploying a CBDC. This statistic, while presented as a positive development, is cause for alarm.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) presents wCBDCs as the bedrock for digital payments in the next iteration of financial markets. Participants in these markets are expected to engage in “mutualizing data sharing using a wCBDC”.

When it comes to digital identity frameworks, the WEF pays lip service to “preserving privacy,” but with a significant caveat: there will be trade-offs involving “preserving privacy and enforcing relevant compliance measures.”

The WEF's push to “enhance compliance with KYC (Know Your Customer), AML (Anti-Money Laundering), and CFT (Countering the Financing of Terrorism)” rules suggests that individual privacy may be relegated to the back burner in the pursuit of a digital currency utopia.

In an attempt to differentiate between programmable payments and programmable money, the report describes them as “separate but adjacent concepts.” However, the distinction seems tenuous at best, and is clearly another instance of obfuscation.

The WEF asserts that wCBDCs “could also support programmable payments,” allowing participants such as “digital CSDs (central securities depositories) and digital asset exchanges, to deliver composable and programmable credit risk-free cash to eliminate counterparty risk.” Furthermore, “programmable payments could enhance proof of transaction across authorized parties.”

The WEF's relentless promotion of wCBDCs, digital identity frameworks, and programmable payments is a reminder of the need for critical evaluation. As we hurtle towards a future where economic and political power is increasingly concentrated in the hands of a select few, it is essential to challenge the entities promoting these technologies and demand transparency and accountability. The stakes are too high to remain passive observers.

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