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bernorange

By bernorange
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RDCanecutter

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52 minutes ago, Rougarou said:

A gentleman is not fully dressed unless he has some cash to tip the valet and/or help. Or am I the only one eating at Del Frisco's every night?

Cyborg etiquette dictates that one not look up from one's phone while accepting the bag of food from the delivery person. This will become moot when future tech bros design nutrients that can be extruded from the phone itself.

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Guest Lobo

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32 minutes ago, Rougarou said:

I went to a Tiff's Treats the other day and they are cashless-- they don't even have the option to accept cash. I thought that was pretty funny.

That's a shame too, nothing more pimp than plunking down a crisp $10 for a little box of Oatmeal Raisin.  

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bernorange

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The World Economic Forum (WEF) — together with some of the world's major central banks — has created a central bank digital currency (CBDC) policymaker toolkit.

According to an announcement on Jan. 22, the toolkit is the WEF's attempt to help policy-makers understand whether deploying a CBDC would be advantageous and guide them through its design.

The WEF collaborated with regulators, central bank researchers, international organizations and experts from over 40 institutions to develop the framework. ...

The WEF’s framework divides CBDCs into three categories: retail, wholesale and hybrid. The first category allows non-financial users to hold digital currency accounts, while the second is an electronic system granting access to the central bank reserve that could be used by commercial banks and other financial institutions for interbank and security transactions.

Hybrid CBDCs allow financial institutions that do not usually have access to a central bank deposit facility to hold reserves at it. This would enable stronger safeguards and monitoring of those organizations and improve interoperability between different payment systems, according to the WEF.

The paper explains that in the case of a DLT-based CBDC, the central bank would preserve full control over the issuance of the digital currency ...

https://cointelegraph.com/news/world-economic-forum-debuts-framework-for-central-bank-digital-currency

Perhaps I would need to read the details of the framework, but I'm wondering how reserve banking would work exactly with DLT based CBDCs.  In any event, looks like central banks are giving serious thought to cryptocurrencies.

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bernorange

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DAVOS, Switzerland — A growing number of voices are calling for the U.S. to issue a "digital dollar" as China continues to work on a digital version of its own currency.

Users of the U.S. dollar are "underserved by an analogue currency in a digital world," Christopher Giancarlo, former chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), said during a side event at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/calls-for-a-us-digital-dollar-rise-as-china-powers-ahead-with-a-digital-yuan/ar-BBZgb6L?ocid=spartandhp

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bernorange

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The Federal Reserve is looking at a broad range of issues around digital payments and currencies, including policy, design and legal considerations around potentially issuing its own digital currency, Governor Lael Brainard said on Wednesday.

Brainard’s remarks suggest more openness to the possibility of a Fed-issued digital coin than in the past.

“By transforming payments, digitalization has the potential to deliver greater value and convenience at lower cost,” Brainard said at a conference on payments at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. She did not touch on interest rates or the current economic outlook.

“But there are risks,” Brainard said, in a partial reprisal of her own and other global central bankers’ worries about the rise of private digital payment systems and currencies, including Facebook’s Libra digital currency project.

“Some of the new players are outside the financial system’s regulatory guardrails, and their new currencies could pose challenges in areas such as illicit finance, privacy, financial stability and monetary policy transmission,” she said.

Central banks globally are debating how to manage digital finance technology and the distributed ledger systems used by bitcoin, which promises near-instantaneous payment at potentially low cost.

The Fed is developing its own round-the-clock real-time payments and settlement service and is currently reviewing 200 comment letters submitted late last year about the proposed service’s design and scope, Brainard said.

But the Fed is also, she said, “conducting research and experimentation related to distributed ledger technologies and their potential use case for digital currencies, including the potential for a CBDC (central bank digital currency).”

Dozens of central banks globally are also doing such work, a recent international study showed, with China moving ahead on plans to issue a digital coin.
...

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-fed-brainard/fed-looking-into-central-bank-digital-coins-brainard-says-idUSKBN1ZZ2XF

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Guest Lobo

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they told our very small, but very federally-50 state chartered bank, that it's now okay to entertain CBD banking (they had approached us initially because the wildly varying laws on CBD/hemp ranged so broadly from state to state, federally chartered banks seemed to be the place to be).  this despite being warned 18 months ago that we would all face time in federal prison for even talking with such companies.  

 

You live long enough.......you see something..  Something.  And the other thing.  

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bernorange

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On 2/17/2020 at 7:43 AM, sidis said:

From the annals of “bern and his goldbug buddies certainly never expected this” chronicles...

See post 58.  It's nice to see some local (ie. at the city level mostly) pushback on cashless disenfranchisement, but that's not going to stop a paradigm shift at the national level should the Fed develop a solution for a digital currency.

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bernorange

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Shit is getting real...

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As the markets continue to drop and the U.S. looks to Congress for agreement on a massive stimulus package to save the economy from impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, the newest offer by House Democrats includes a very forward-looking kind of stimulus: the creation of a ‘digital dollar’ and the establishment of ‘digital dollar wallets.’ In what will send shock waves through the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry, particularly for those following central bank digital currencies around the world, this signals the U.S. is serious in establishing infrastructure for a central bank digital currency.

Both Speaker Pelosi’s ‘Take Responsibility for Workers and Families Act’ and the ‘Financial Protections and Assistance for America’s Consumers, States, Businesses, and Vulnerable Populations Act (H.R. 6321),’ introduced by Chairwoman Maxine Waters of Financial Services Committee, introduced these concepts today as a way of delivering the economic stimulus payments to U.S. citizens.

The bill establishes a digital dollar, which it defines as ‘a balance expressed as a dollar value consisting of digital ledger entries that are recorded as liabilities in the accounts of any Federal Reserve Bank or ... an electronic unit of value, redeemable by an eligible financial institution (as determined by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System).’ Additionally, a digital dollar wallet is identified as ‘a digital wallet or account, maintained by a Federal reserve bank on behalf of any person, that represents holdings in an electronic device or service that is used to store digital dollars that may be tied to a digital or physical identity.’

A mandate also requires all ‘member banks’ establish a ‘pass-through digital dollar wallet’ to all customers eligible for the stimulus. Member banks include those banks that are ‘members’ of the Federal Reserve and regulated by the Fed. Additionally, ‘Non-Member’ state banks - those that not members of the Federal Reserve and regulated by the FDIC - could opt-in to offer pass-through digital dollar wallets as well.

The Federal Reserve banks themselves would also make available a digital dollar wallet to any U.S. person eligible for the payments as well. Additionally, the U.S. Postal Service would aim to help unbanked individuals and/or those without proper ID to establish their identity be provided a digital dollar account, and would set up ATMs for customers to access their funds.
...

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonbrett/2020/03/23/new-coronavirus-stimulus-bill-introduces-digital-dollar-and-digital-dollar-wallets/?fbclid=IwAR3lAi6X7I69UZGlxFUl4lXoQpd9mv0oajABnGBGtGEzVAbtyUHyo_AZ3gc#37f7969c4bea

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bernorange

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Bloomberg opinion beating the drum with Pollyanna glasses on...

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...
The solution: We need a digital dollar, a currency that all Americans can use to transact in the 21st century economy. And this crisis offers an ideal opportunity to create it.
...

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-03-24/coronavirus-stimulus-let-s-pay-it-in-digital-dollars?srnd=premium

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RDCanecutter

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On 7/6/2020 at 8:21 AM, Hornius Emeritus said:

Wait  a minute .... what am I going to do with these two five gallon water bottles I have filled with pennies?

4213310B-8A73-42A0-8C53D4B69C680048_sour

No doubt you've got a mix of 95% copper pre-1983 cents, and later 95% zinc ones. So you are sitting on a pile of zinc and copper. Make batteries and power your Bitcoin mining machine.

 

Or dump em in a Coinstar. I dunno.

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Rusty Shackelford

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https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm1152

G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ Statement on Digital Payments

October 13, 2020

WASHINGTON – The widespread adoption of digital payments has the potential to address frictions in existing payment systems by improving access to financial services, reducing inefficiencies, and lowering costs.  At the same time, payment services should be appropriately supervised and regulated to address challenges and risks related to financial stability, consumer protection, privacy, taxation, cybersecurity, operational resilience, money laundering, terrorist and proliferation financing, market integrity, governance, and legal certainty, among others.

The public sector, through the provision of fiat currency and the conduct of independent monetary policy, as well as its regulatory and supervisory roles, plays an essential role in ensuring the safety and the efficiency of payment systems, financial stability, and the achievement of macroeconomic objectives.  It is in this context, that a number of G7 authorities are exploring the opportunities and risks associated with central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).  Confidence in the stability of domestic payment systems and the international monetary system is underpinned by credible and longstanding public sector commitments to transparency, the rule of law, and sound economic governance.  We are committed to addressing existing frictions within payment systems and to fostering continual improvement.

The G7 continues to support the work of the FSB, FATF, CPMI, and other standard-setting bodies to analyze the risks associated with and determine appropriate policy responses to digital payments.  In particular, the G7 underscores the importance of the G20 agenda to enhance the efficiency of cross-border payments and to address regulatory and public policy issues arising from global stablecoins and other similar arrangements.  The G7 continues to maintain that no global stablecoin project should begin operation until it adequately addresses relevant legal, regulatory, and oversight requirements through appropriate design and by adhering to applicable standards. 

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Mrs Whiggins

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17 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

This weekend I realized that I had only pulled cash out of an ATM once since March. In the last 7-8 months I’ve spent $40 in cash mainly in tips in take out restaurants that do not seem to allow tips with a credit card payment.

Do any of you still use cash?

Yes. And so does the boss.

 

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Nice Guy Eddie

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Received an email from the Astros talking about their changes for fans due to covid. The ballpark is now cashless even to a point if you have cash, they have reverse ATM that will convert your cash into some type of pay card.

possible this is short term but I have to guess they will ultimately be happy to remove cash from the equation except for a couple of reverse ATMs. 

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Guest Lobo

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On 11/9/2020 at 7:05 AM, Nice Guy Eddie said:

This weekend I realized that I had only pulled cash out of an ATM once since March. In the last 7-8 months I’ve spent $40 in cash mainly in tips in take out restaurants that do not seem to allow tips with a credit card payment.

Do any of you still use cash?

I still use it way more than the average person, but my cash is dramatically down since Covid-19.  We had a meeting this morning with some leadership members in the national CFI space (community banking groups basically).  They are leaning heavily on regulators to not approve a great deal of what is proposed in the digital payments/digital currency space/fintech space...for the very simple reason that it will accelerate their obsolescence.  The CFI model of "build more branches and they will come to us" is already broken.  Covid-19 and fintech/digital payments is gonna bury it by the end of the decade.  If your bank growth model is predicated on more proprietary real estate, you're already illiquid---you just don't know it yet.  

All that to say, I saw the strangest thing at lunch earlier.  i drove by that Wells Fargo in Mueller development.  I get caught at that light all the time and rarely see more than one car in the drive-thru 4-5 drive-thru lanes.  Maybe on a Friday that happens to fall on the first of the month or something.  But today, the day after Easter...an ordinary Monday.  Each of the 4-5 lanes was 6-10 cars deep (backed up to that Best Buy), the lobby was full, and there was a line of 5-6 people at the exterior ATM.  I have literally not seen anything like that in years.  I pulled into the strip center parking lot to check the news apps to see if something was happening in our country to cause a run on our banks.  strangest thing I've seen during Covid-19 in months.  /csb

 

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tx 3 putt

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14 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Received an email from the Astros talking about their changes for fans due to covid. The ballpark is now cashless even to a point if you have cash, they have reverse ATM that will convert your cash into some type of pay card.

possible this is short term but I have to guess they will ultimately be happy to remove cash from the equation except for a couple of reverse ATMs. 

 

i think that all MLB has gone cashless 

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bernorange

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In Shenzhen, the high-tech metropolis that just extended China’s largest digital yuan trial, participants interviewed by Bloomberg showed little interest in switching from mobile payment systems run by Ant Group Co. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. that have already replaced cash in much of the country. Some balked at the possibility a digital yuan might give authorities easier access to real-time data on their financial lives.
...

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-09/china-s-much-hyped-digital-yuan-fails-to-impress-early-users

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bernorange

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That is why today, President Biden will sign an Executive Order outlining the first ever, whole-of-government approach to addressing the risks and harnessing the potential benefits of digital assets and their underlying technology. The Order lays out a national policy for digital assets across six key priorities: consumer and investor protection; financial stability; illicit finance; U.S. leadership in the global financial system and economic competitiveness; financial inclusion; and responsible innovation.

Specifically, the Executive Order calls for measures to:

...
 *   Mitigate the Illicit Finance and National Security Risks Posed by the Illicit Use of Digital Assets by directing an unprecedented focus of coordinated action across all relevant U.S. Government agencies to mitigate these risks. It also directs agencies to work with our allies and partners to ensure international frameworks, capabilities, and partnerships are aligned and responsive to risks.
...
*    Explore a U.S. Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) by placing urgency on research and development of a potential United States CBDC, should issuance be deemed in the national interest. The Order directs the U.S. Government to assess the technological infrastructure and capacity needs for a potential U.S. CBDC in a manner that protects Americans’ interests. The Order also encourages the Federal Reserve to continue its research, development, and assessment efforts for a U.S. CBDC, including development of a plan for broader U.S. Government action in support of their work. This effort prioritizes U.S. participation in multi-country experimentation, and ensures U.S. leadership internationally to promote CBDC development that is consistent with U.S. priorities and democratic values.
...

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/03/09/fact-sheet-president-biden-to-sign-executive-order-on-ensuring-responsible-innovation-in-digital-assets/

The Fed has been studying the CBDC issue for a while now.  This executive order seems to be affirming government support for the project.

The order appears to indicate that the USA wants to comply with "international frameworks".  If that means adopting frameworks like the one the G7 proposed a while back (post #126), that doesn't bode well for privacy or security.

 

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Immaculate Vibes

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14 minutes ago, bernorange said:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/03/09/fact-sheet-president-biden-to-sign-executive-order-on-ensuring-responsible-innovation-in-digital-assets/

The Fed has been studying the CBDC issue for a while now.  This executive order seems to be affirming government support for the project.

The order appears to indicate that the USA wants to comply with "international frameworks".  If that means adopting frameworks like the one the G7 proposed a while back (post #126), that doesn't bode well for privacy or security.

 

As I said in the crypto thread, this must be fought at all costs. Programmable Fed tokens. They could control where you spend, how much you spend, if you don’t spend x by certain date you lose said Fed tokens, if you have opinions out of line with government your Fed account gets frozen. This wouldn’t happen overnight, but could be done once it’s implemented. All while it’s the ultimate surveillance vehicle even if not manipulated. 

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SKJ

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On 3/10/2022 at 10:17 AM, Immaculate Vibes said:

As I said in the crypto thread, this must be fought at all costs. Programmable Fed tokens. They could control where you spend, how much you spend, if you don’t spend x by certain date you lose said Fed tokens, if you have opinions out of line with government your Fed account gets frozen. This wouldn’t happen overnight, but could be done once it’s implemented. All while it’s the ultimate surveillance vehicle even if not manipulated. 

Like if we had another Trump presidency... 

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Fudge Nuggets

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On 3/10/2022 at 10:17 AM, Immaculate Vibes said:

As I said in the crypto thread, this must be fought at all costs. Programmable Fed tokens. They could control where you spend, how much you spend, if you don’t spend x by certain date you lose said Fed tokens, if you have opinions out of line with government your Fed account gets frozen. This wouldn’t happen overnight, but could be done once it’s implemented. All while it’s the ultimate surveillance vehicle even if not manipulated. 

If you aren’t doing anything wrong then you shouldn’t have anything to worry about, right?

 

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Immaculate Vibes

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36 minutes ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

If you aren’t doing anything wrong then you shouldn’t have anything to worry about, right?

 

I’ve always been anti surveillance state. Maybe my sarcasm meter is broken?

 

52 minutes ago, Neonmoon said:

The anti government troll bumps an old thread to spew anti government hot takes

image.gif.cd981cbf47262eb68ca2d837c7223ecb.gif

Do you have an actual critique of any of those concerns? 
 

Maybe you just have a limited understanding of what’s possible with completely centralized, programmable money. 

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Fudge Nuggets

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57 minutes ago, Immaculate Vibes said:

I’ve always been anti surveillance state. Maybe my sarcasm meter is broken?

 

Do you have an actual critique of any of those concerns? 
 

Maybe you just have a limited understanding of what’s possible with completely centralized, programmable money. 

Maybe this is why some of us haven’t bought into the whole vapor currency fad.

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'stache

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I mean, the government could wipe out your bank account tomorrow if they really wanted to. You could hide cash under your mattress but it would be worthless if the government decided it was worthless. Same with gold or whatever it is you want to hoard. Mediums of exchange require some central organization, trust, and agreement among everyone in the economy as to its value (itself based on trust in the central organization). The only way around that would be going back to a barter system. 

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bernorange

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The Fed was publicly dismissive of issuing a CBDC recently (from September 27):

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Jerome Powell, Chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve, has silenced the calls for a U.S. central bank digital currency (CBDC) to be issued in the near future, saying that the central bank has “not decided to proceed” with the issuance of a CBDC for the time being.

"We do not see ourselves making that decision for some time," he said Tuesday, speaking remotely on a panel about the role of central banks in digital markets to global financial leaders and crypto regulation experts attending a conference in Paris.

Powell indicated that the central bank would instead be working in collaboration with Congress and the executive branch to evaluate the policy and technological issues. This includes a multi-year period during which the Fed will focus on “building public confidence in our analysis and ultimate conclusions, which we certainly haven’t reached yet.”

The central bank Chair also said the Fed would need approval from the White House and Congress to proceed with a digital dollar.

As for what the central bank will be looking for in the creation of a CBDC, Powell identified four key characteristics: intermediated, privacy-protected, identity-verified, and interoperable.

“First is intermediated. The second is private privacy protected, but the third is identity verified, so it would not be anonymous. It would not be an anonymous bearer instrument. And fourth is transferable or interoperable,” Powell said. “We would be looking to balance privacy protection with identity verification, which has to be done in today’s traditional banking system as well.”...

https://www.kitco.com/news/2022-09-27/The-Fed-will-not-be-issuing-a-digital-dollar-anytime-soon-says-Powell.html

Meanwhile, the rest of the world is marching ahead (from Sep 29/30):

 From the ECB (one year into a two year investigation): 

Quote

This report presents progress made during the investigation phase of the digital euro project and elaborates on the foundational design options that were recently endorsed by the Governing Council. As regards the design of the transfer mechanism used to validate transactions, the Eurosystem will further explore a digital euro solution, in which transactions would be made online and would be validated by a third party, as well as a peer-to-peer validated solution for offline payments. The Eurosystem will explore options that could allow a digital euro to replicate some cash-like features and enable greater privacy for low-value transactions.

Consideration is also being given to incorporating limit and remuneration-based tools in the design of a digital euro to curb its use as a form of investment. Quantitative limits on the holdings of individual users would limit individual take-up and the speed of deposit conversion, while remuneration-based tools could be calibrated to make large digital euro holdings above a certain threshold unattractive compared to other highly liquid and low-risk assets. In general, a number of further steps would need to be taken before a digital euro could be introduced. In the first quarter of 2023, the European Commission will propose a regulation to establish the digital euro, which is expected to help achieve the digital euro objectives. ...

https://www.ecb.europa.eu/paym/digital_euro/investigation/profuse/shared/files/dedocs/ecb.dedocs220929.en.pdf?c7289d0032238188c71a4803112ea552

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The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has announced the launch of Project Icebreaker, a joint exploration with the central banks of Israel, Norway and Sweden on how central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) can be used for international retail and remittance payments.

Through Project Icebreaker, the three central banks and the BIS Innovation Hub Nordic Centre will collaborate to “develop a ‘hub’ to which participating central banks will connect their domestic proof-of-concept CBDC systems,” the BIS said.

The overall objective of the project is to test some of the key functions of CBDCs and evaluate the technical feasibility of interlinking different domestic CBDC systems.
...

https://www.kitco.com/news/2022-09-29/Norway-Israel-and-Sweeden-central-banks-join-the-BIS-in-exploring-CBDC-payments.html

SWIFT says, BIS - hold my beer (from Oct 6):

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SWIFT has successfully shown that Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) and tokenised assets can move seamlessly on existing financial infrastructure – a major milestone towards enabling their smooth integration into the international financial ecosystem.

The findings, from two separate experiments, solve the significant challenge of interoperability in cross-border transactions by bridging between different distributed ledger technology (DLT) networks and existing payment systems, allowing digital currencies and assets to flow smoothly alongside, and interact with, their traditional counterparts. This important step forward builds on SWIFT’s core capabilities and means that as CBDCs and tokens develop, they can be rapidly deployed at scale to facilitate trade and investment between more than 200 countries and territories around the world.

[B]Interlinking CBDCs for seamless cross-border payments[/B]

Globally, nine out of 10 central banks are actively exploring digital currencies — often using different technologies and with a primary focus on domestic use. For the potential of CBDCs to be fully realised across borders, these digital currencies need to overcome inherent differences to interact with each other, as well as with traditional fiat currencies.

SWIFT, in collaboration with Capgemini, achieved CBDC-to-CBDC transactions between different DLT networks based on popular Quorum and Corda technologies, as well as fiat-to-CBDC flows between these networks and a real-time gross settlement system. The success showed that the blockchain networks could be interlinked for cross-border payments through a single gateway, and that SWIFT’s new transaction management capabilities could orchestrate all inter-network communication.

14 central and commercial banks, including Banque de France, the Deutsche Bundesbank, HSBC, Intesa Sanpaolo, NatWest, SMBC, Standard Chartered, UBS and Wells Fargo, are now collaborating in a testing environment to accelerate the path to full scale deployment.

[B]Unlocking the potential of tokenised assets[/B]

In a separate experiment with a different group of participants, SWIFT similarly demonstrated that its infrastructure can serve as an interconnector between multiple tokenisation platforms and different types of cash payment.

Working in collaboration with Citi, Clearstream, Northern Trust, and SETL, its technology partner, SWIFT explored 70 scenarios simulating market issuance and secondary market transfers of tokenised bonds, equities and cash. It successfully served as a single access point to various tokenised networks and showed its infrastructure could be used to create, transfer and redeem tokens and update balances between multiple client wallets, as well as provide interoperability between different tokenisation platforms and existing account-based infrastructure.

Tokenisation is a relatively nascent market, but the World Economic Forum has estimated it could reach $24tn by 20271. The potential benefits include greater market liquidity and fractionalisation, which could increase access to investment markets for retail investors, and enable institutional investors to build stronger portfolios.

Tom Zschach, Chief Innovation Officer at SWIFT, said: “Digital currencies and tokens have huge potential to shape the way we will all pay and invest in the future. But that potential can only be unleashed if the different approaches that are being explored have the ability to connect and work together. We see inclusivity and interoperability as central pillars of the financial ecosystem, and our innovation is a major step towards unlocking the potential of the digital future. For CBDCs, our solution will enable central banks to connect their own networks simply and directly to all the other payments systems in the world through a single gateway, ensuring the instant and smooth flow of cross-border payments.

“Tokenisation has great potential when it comes to strengthening liquidity in markets and increasing access to investment opportunities, and SWIFT’s existing infrastructure can ensure these benefits can be realised at the earliest opportunity, by as many people as possible.”

The experiments are part of SWIFT’s extensive innovation agenda in support of its strategic focus on enabling instant, frictionless and interoperable cross-border transactions. The cooperative, which connects more than 11,500 financial institutions and 4 billion accounts across 200 countries and territories, was created to bridge geographies, technologies and currencies. And it has been transforming the underlying infrastructure of the global economy at pace to meet the rapidly changing requirements of businesses and consumers. This includes a new standard, SWIFT Go, for low value payments, and services like Payment Pre-validation that uses predictive intelligence to pre-check international payments before they begin to prevent common mistakes that cause delays.
...

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221005005149/en/Ground-Breaking-SWIFT-Innovation-Paves-Way-for-Global-Use-of-CBDCs-and-Tokenised-Assets

JPMorgan says, fuck that SWIFT noise (from Oct 12):

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Two giants in the traditional finance and payments world, JPMorgan and Visa, have announced a new partnership that will focus on streamlining cross-border payments through the use of their private blockchain networks Liink and B2B Connect.  

Liink is a network created by JPMorgan that was designed specifically for cross-border transfers. It is offered under the bank’s blockchain and payments initiative Onyx, which provides a platform for institutions to validate transactions and share financial information.

B2B Connect was created by Visa to serve as a cross-border payment product for financial institutions and corporate clients. B2B Connect is also integrated with Onyx's Confirm, which is an account-information validation product that verifies that the information provided by users is correct and valid.
...
Liink currently has more than 75 global participants operating on the network, which has so far processed over 60 million messages. Once the service is widespread and fully operational, Liink will offer a suitable alternative to the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) messaging system for conducting cross-border payments.

https://www.kitco.com/news/2022-10-12/JPMorgan-and-Visa-team-up-setting-the-stage-for-a-showdown-with-SWIFT.html

Against that backdrop, the PayPal story got some people thinking...

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That brings me to CBDCs. I was in Europe last week where I attended the Bitcoin Amsterdam conference, and I was honored to participate on a lively panel that was aptly titled “The Specter of CBDCs.”

As I told the audience, I believe CBDCs are inevitable, ready or not. ...

Due to the centralized nature of CBDCs, however, there are a number of concerns that give many people pause. Unlike Bitcoin, which is decentralized and anonymous, CBDCs raise questions about privacy, government interference and manipulation.

In the White House’s own review of digital currencies, issued last month, policymakers write that a potential U.S. coin system should “promote compliance with” anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CFT) laws. Such a system should also “prevent the use of CBDC in ways that violate civil or human rights.” Further, it should be sustainable; that is, it should “minimize energy use, resources use, greenhouse gas emissions, other pollution and environmental impacts on local communities.”

Nothing about this sounds inherently nefarious, but then, some of us may have said the same thing about PayPal’s “misinformation” policy (whether intended or not) and JPMorgan’s decision to end its relationship with a polarizing celebrity.
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2022/10/17/paypal-kanye-and-cbdcs/

 

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bernorange

bernorange 8348

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The Bank of England has released a new consultation paper that outlines the goals of its digital pound project and pitches the idea of creating a “new form of digital money for use by households and businesses for their everyday payments needs.”
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Based on the design outlined in the paper, the central bank would be the sole issuer of a digital pound, which would be accessible to individuals and businesses via smartphones or cards. Wallets would be anonymized on the central bank's ledger to address privacy concerns and the digital currency would be non-programmable, meaning authorities can't control how people spend their money.

“The Bank will not implement central bank-initiated programmable functions,” a separate technical working paper said. “Instead, the Bank would provide the necessary infrastructure for the private sector to implement programmability features for users. Those features would require user consent.”

The consultation paper is meant to pitch the idea of a digital pound to the public and solicit comments on the proposed design to help the central bank determine if the creation of a digital pound is warranted. The ultimate goal of the paper is to help increase public engagement and work to enhance public trust in the event that a digital pound is launched.
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https://www.kitco.com/news/2023-02-07/Bank-of-England-unveils-the-consultation-paper-for-its-digital-pound-project.html

Link to paper:

https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/paper/2023/the-digital-pound-consultation-working-paper.pdf

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bernorange

bernorange 8348

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BIS gives thumbs up to CBDC cross border settlement system:

https://www.kitco.com/news/2023-03-06/BIS-announces-the-completion-of-Project-Icebreaker-says-cross-border-CBDCs-show-promise.html

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A cautionary tale about the privacy supremacy of cash:

https://reason.com/2023/03/06/banks-increasingly-back-political-scheme-to-track-gun-purchases-by-credit-card/

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YGIFS

YGIFS 19449

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Not totally related, but drove thru the Wells Fargo on 15th Street today to pick up a few bucks from the ATM.  Noticed all teller lanes were permanently closed and they've begun construction on completely shutting off the glass with something more durable (just had it taped off, but I presume something like brick or metal).  Was curious, so went inside to see what was happening.  Two employees.  One teller, one guy at a desk hoping I was gonna spontaneously pull over to open up an IRA.  Started chatting with him about what was happening with the branch.  I asked him some leading questions to get out what he hears from other assistant branch managers at other physical locations around Austin/CenTex.  He said, in a few months...it'll be appointment only.  Nobody will actually be inside the bank, and the vault will be emptied.  If you need cash, you'll use the ext. ATM.  If you need anything else, you'll book ahead and somebody will come meet you at the bank to do paperwork, etc.  But no more cash inside, no teller lanes, no more branch banking 9-5 M-F, 9-1 SAT.  

It's a nearly 2/3 of an acre lot, all impervious cover except a small strip of grass in the parking lot.  4,000+ square feet inside.  Easily a $6mm property at FMV.  And it's going to be used for an ATM that could go anywhere and maybe 5-10 hours a week of 1:1 meetings between a banker and a customer, all of which could be easily be diverted to another, cheaper location.  So by the end of the calendar year, it's going to be a $6-7mm Wells Fargo ATM location in the name of the handful of us that still use cash.  If I asked Wells Fargo for a small business loan where I'd make $1.50/transaction on a few dozen transactions per day and just needed $7mm for the land and building, nevermind the security guard G&A and machine upkeep---they'd not only turn me down for the loan, they'd probably turn me over to the IRS for fraud.  

Cash is gonna be around for awhile still.  Branch banks are dead, they just don't know it yet.  I can't fucking imagine what that one at South Congress and Riverside is worth.

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