ECB's Lagarde pressures Parliament to support the digital euro ahead of tomorrow's vote while saying she's not pressuring them.

Everything central bankers have said a CBDC will do: Expand financial access to the unbanked. Improve the application of monetary policy. Increase the speed of payments. Improve cross-border payments. Increase competition. Increase financial system resilience. Enhance financial stability. Create programmable payments. Increase financial surveillance. Stop sanctions evasion. Evade sanctions. Enhance government payments. Enhance the digital transformation of the economy. Strengthen the international role of currencies. Prevent the use of cryptocurrency. Prevent dependency on foreign payment services. Establish universal acceptance. Compete with private services while also not competing with all private services. Replace cash while also complementing cash. Create a free option for consumers while still paying businesses’ fees. “Future-proof” the economy. Reduce currency fragmentation. Reduce costs for businesses and consumers. Create a foundation for financial innovation. Prevent discrimination against central bank money If you believe them, I have a bridge to sell you.

Congress sent me follow-up questions after I testified against the Bank Secrecy Act. One side asked deep questions about how to reclaim financial privacy. The other side just wanted to know my racial and gender identity. *sigh* https://www.cato.org/testimony/questions-record-modernizing-bsa-financial-crime-21st-century

I've now been to 17 countries in my quest to raise awareness about CBDCs and financial privacy. What conferences should I be speaking at next? I need to pump those numbers up!

I am in Prague with Gary Becker's "In Prague."

Dobrý den from the depths of Prague! By no choice of my own, it seems it’s now a tradition that I end up crossing the central bank.

Governments are increasingly recognizing that financial control is invisible control.

Authoritarians are using CBDCs—programmable money that can be turned off in an instant. They are amassing vast networks of surveillance. And they are investing more money in control than ever. A powerful warning at the @HRF Oslo Freedom Forum

A crucial reminder at the @HRF Oslo Freedom Forum. You can’t just dismantle dictatorships. You have to replace them.

“I used my platform to call out the criminal government,” says Steven Kefas at the @HRF Oslo Freedom Forum.

The @HRF Oslo Freedom Forum opens with a million dollar speaker. A million dollars because that’s the bounty the government put on her. But in reality, her impact is priceless.

I have to admit. I really didn’t expect the support I’ve gotten for my testimony against the Bank Secrecy Act. Y’all really know how to make an old man shaking his fist at the clouds feel special.

CBDC sales pitch of the century coming from the Central Bank of Ireland. /s File under "reinventing the wheel."

FinCEN is busy telling banks how to comply with the law while it is actively breaking the law. https://www.cato.org/blog/reporting-fincens-suspicious-activity-2026-edition