I’m not sure what’s more ridiculous: the idea that showing this disclosure here is actually helpful or that someone had to pay money to have this disclosure shown.
Nick Anthony
EconWithNick@verified-nostr.com
npub1n2m8...gflr
Policy Analyst at the Cato Institute's Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives and Fellow at the Human Rights Foundation. Covering CBDCs, financial privacy, and cryptocurrency. Opinions are my own.
Admittedly, I did not expect this year to include speaking before the European Parliament on debanking and CBDCs, but here I am.
Can we take a moment to talk about the digital bolívar in Venezuela?
In early 2021, Nicolas Maduro briefly hinted that a “digital bolívar” would soon be part of an effort to digitize the Venezuelan economy.
Many people took this statement to mean a CBDC was on the way.
Later that year, the Banco Central de Venezuela seemed to confirm those suspicions when it announced the digital bolívar was indeed on the way along with a currency devaluation.
Well… here it is. The “digital” bolívar.
No, this is not a hyperrealistic AI-generated image of what a digital bolívar might look like. It really is a physical banknote.
The only thing that's new is the devaluation so that 1,000,000 sovereign bolívars = 1 digital bolívar
So, it’s not a CBDC by any means, but there is a side note to this story that unexpectedly captures just how absurd the Venezuelan monetary system has become.
The central bank forced shops to post prices as both sovereign bolívars (Bs) and digital bolívars (Bs.D). Yet, there is a third label on prices that can also be seen in Venezuelan shops: REF.
In short, this means to reference the dollar.
For the fans of statistics, I probably don't need to point it out. However, “REF” is also the error code that Excel will display if a formula is broken. And frankly, this label could not be more fitting.
Something is clearly broken if a central bank has launched a non-digital, digital currency denominated at 1/1,000,000th of its previously hyperinflated currency that was already on its second devaluation.
As if this story were not enough, there’s also the tale of when Maduro introduced an actual digital currency called the “petro.” However, I'll leave that for another day.
If you want to learn more about this story and other CBDC developments around the world, check out the @HRF CBDC Tracker.
No, this is not a hyperrealistic AI-generated image of what a digital bolívar might look like. It really is a physical banknote.
The only thing that's new is the devaluation so that 1,000,000 sovereign bolívars = 1 digital bolívar
So, it’s not a CBDC by any means, but there is a side note to this story that unexpectedly captures just how absurd the Venezuelan monetary system has become.
The central bank forced shops to post prices as both sovereign bolívars (Bs) and digital bolívars (Bs.D). Yet, there is a third label on prices that can also be seen in Venezuelan shops: REF.
In short, this means to reference the dollar.
For the fans of statistics, I probably don't need to point it out. However, “REF” is also the error code that Excel will display if a formula is broken. And frankly, this label could not be more fitting.
Something is clearly broken if a central bank has launched a non-digital, digital currency denominated at 1/1,000,000th of its previously hyperinflated currency that was already on its second devaluation.
As if this story were not enough, there’s also the tale of when Maduro introduced an actual digital currency called the “petro.” However, I'll leave that for another day.
If you want to learn more about this story and other CBDC developments around the world, check out the @HRF CBDC Tracker.
CBDC Tracker
A CBDC is a digital national currency. In the case of the United States, a CBDC would be a digital form of the U.S. dollar whereas, in Nigeria, the...
Efforts to slow or block the creation of a CBDC have received little support among congressional Democrats—even though the risks involved strike at the heart of core progressive values. Indeed, for a movement that has consistently fought against surveillance, discrimination, and the abuse of government power, CBDCs should raise especially sharp concerns.
Thank you to @The Progressive Bitcoiner for letting me write a guest post.
The Progressive Bitcoiner
Central Bank Digital Currencies Clash with Progressive Values
Progressives—who have long fought to curb state overreach, surveillance, and discriminatory enforcement—should likewise fight to stop the rise ...
50 pages defending “CBDC privacy” summed up in 2 quotes:
“This Article demystifies the exaggerated concern that a [CBDC] would serve as a tool for government surveillance, demonstrating instead that a [CBDC] can offer enhanced privacy protections through the examination of current technical designs.”
“Of course, if a government or central bank intends to use a CBDC system for surveillance, they certainly have the capability to design it accordingly.”
🔗: https://www.hastingslawjournal.org/wp-content/uploads/D-Article-Jiang.pdf
Who else should I be following on here?
Today marks the anniversary of President Nixon's 1971 decision to end the gold standard in the United States.
I can't help but notice that the same appeals to "protect the dollar" here mirror what politicians now use to say we need a CBDC.
A "cashless economy is the preferred choice for the central bank."
I mean... at least they are upfront about it. 
https://repositorio.banrep.gov.co/server/api/core/bitstreams/e74bc0c3-e866-4b31-a00d-3eebf8f83f03/content
https://repositorio.banrep.gov.co/server/api/core/bitstreams/e74bc0c3-e866-4b31-a00d-3eebf8f83f03/content
Trump says banks discriminated against him and then says he thinks the source of the problem was the government itself.
He's expected to sign an executive order about debanking this week.
CBDCs and stablecoins are not the same thing.
It is correct that neither embodies truly open and free monetary technology, but the distinction is still important because only CBDCs give the government direct access and control over your financial activity by default.
I explain at length in my latest article below.
View article →
When protests erupted after the 2020 election of Alexander Lukashenko, the government detained thousands.
In 2021, the government raided the offices of media outlets and froze the bank accounts of the Belarusian Association of Journalists.
In that same year, Lukashenko gave the central bank “the right to prohibit the sale and purchase of currency or impose a tax on it and confiscate dollars and euros from the accounts of legal entities.”
In 2023, news broke that the central bank was building a CBDC.
Find my latest with the @HRF below.
Human Rights Foundation
Tracking CBDCs before they track you
Everyone who uses money needs the digital euro?
Wild take from Bloomberg.
To their credit, the authors acknowledge that electronic payments are widely available.
So why? Why do people need a digital euro when they are already served by a wide array of options?
And there it is: Control.
The authors do well to be upfront about one risk of CBDCs. Although the only one they mention is the risk that a CBDC could undermine banks and so they propose restrictions on how much people can own.
However, there are many other risks at play with few benefits to justify the cost.
https://www.cato.org/visual-feature/risks-of-cbdcs
Check out the full piece in Bloomberg below.
To their credit, the authors acknowledge that electronic payments are widely available.
So why? Why do people need a digital euro when they are already served by a wide array of options?
And there it is: Control.
The authors do well to be upfront about one risk of CBDCs. Although the only one they mention is the risk that a CBDC could undermine banks and so they propose restrictions on how much people can own.
However, there are many other risks at play with few benefits to justify the cost.
https://www.cato.org/visual-feature/risks-of-cbdcs
Check out the full piece in Bloomberg below.
Bloomberg.com
Who Needs a Digital Euro? Everyone Who Uses Money
The European Central Bank is rightly working to future-proof government-issued currency.
"Then the question was, if we're going to build [a CBDC,] ... what's the most expansive powers Congress could give us? And then how do we design it in a way that can handle all of those expansive powers?"
- Robert Bench, recalling his experience working on the Federal Reserve's CBDC project.
Banks will be forced to use the digital ruble (Russia's CBDC) starting in September 2026.
I guess nothing says "great product" quite like something you have to force people to use.
CBDC Tracker
A CBDC is a digital national currency. In the case of the United States, a CBDC would be a digital form of the U.S. dollar whereas, in Nigeria, the...
The fact that the state of Wyoming is trying to create a stablecoin is so bizarre but so fascinating.
Here we have the state saying they don't have to comply with the _federal_ government while seemingly ignoring that they are a government body in and of themselves. 
"The sense of urgency for [the digital euro] is increasing for ministers. So we agreed to speed up work and aim to find compromises on the remaining issues as soon as possible."
https://www.consilium.europa.eu/it/press/press-releases/2025/05/12/remarks-by-paschal-donohoe-following-the-eurogroup-meeting-of-12-may-2025/
Although it has been able to get a few thousand people to use its CBDC, the Bank of Russia said it has been a challenge to “build citizens' trust in the digital national currency.”
CBDC Tracker
A CBDC is a digital national currency. In the case of the United States, a CBDC would be a digital form of the U.S. dollar whereas, in Nigeria, the...
It's going to be crazy when we find out the real reason the Fed is so expensive to renovate is that there are titans hidden in the walls.
Thank you to @HRF for the shout-out in the Oslo Freedom Forum report!
Human Rights Foundation
2025 OFF Recap Report
My latest paper digs into the CBDC experience in the Caribbean.
Perhaps shocking no one, much of the CBDC use is built on government activity. https://www.cato.org/briefing-paper/cbdc-lessons-caribbean
Compared to cash, the amount of CBDC in circulation is almost nonexistent.
However, it's much more interesting to zoom in on the CBDC alone. Here we see something interesting. Look how abrupt these changes are.
It took some digging, but I was able to uncover that almost every one of these abrupt jumps was caused by the Bank of Jamaica giving away money at special events.
I was also able to uncover a similar pattern in The Bahamas.
In short, governments may build CBDCs, but that does not mean people will use them.
Reflecting on the lack of consumer adoption in 2024, Central Bank of The Bahamas Governor John Rolle said commercial banks would soon be forced to distribute the CBDC—suggesting a shift from incentives to mandates.
So whether by carrot or by stick, governments want their citizens to adopt CBDCs.
Yet the real question they should be asking is “What do our citizens want?” Based on the experience thus far, it’s not a CBDC.
However, it's much more interesting to zoom in on the CBDC alone. Here we see something interesting. Look how abrupt these changes are.
It took some digging, but I was able to uncover that almost every one of these abrupt jumps was caused by the Bank of Jamaica giving away money at special events.
I was also able to uncover a similar pattern in The Bahamas.
In short, governments may build CBDCs, but that does not mean people will use them.
Reflecting on the lack of consumer adoption in 2024, Central Bank of The Bahamas Governor John Rolle said commercial banks would soon be forced to distribute the CBDC—suggesting a shift from incentives to mandates.
So whether by carrot or by stick, governments want their citizens to adopt CBDCs.
Yet the real question they should be asking is “What do our citizens want?” Based on the experience thus far, it’s not a CBDC.