{"id":50938,"date":"2021-10-10T10:03:29","date_gmt":"2021-10-10T07:03:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/?p=50938"},"modified":"2025-09-02T21:00:54","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T18:00:54","slug":"edward-snowden-calls-cbdcs-an-evil-doppelganger-of-bitcoin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/edward-snowden-calls-cbdcs-an-evil-doppelganger-of-bitcoin\/","title":{"rendered":"Edward Snowden calls CBDCs an &#8216;evil doppelg\u00e4nger&#8217; of Bitcoin"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are &#8220;the latest danger hanging over society.&#8221; In the view of former <span data-descr=\"National Security Agency (NSA)\" class=\"old_tooltip\">NSA<\/span> and <span data-descr=\"Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)\" class=\"old_tooltip\">CIA<\/span> employee Edward Snowden, these tools &#8220;distort&#8221; the very nature of cryptocurrencies.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Most of your money exists not as something folded in your wallet, but as an entry in a bank\u2019s database, faithfully requested and rendered beneath the glass of your phone.<\/p>\n<p>If someone else gets to decide *if* and *how* you can spend it, is it really yours?<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/720SYvqzZM\">https:\/\/t.co\/720SYvqzZM<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Edward Snowden (@Snowden) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Snowden\/status\/1446890704622571525?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 9, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>In his words, CBDCs are &#8220;clearly designed to deprive users of ownership rights in their money.&#8221; He noted that the deployment of these tools is not tied to government support for cryptocurrencies or the digitisation of finance, as most dollars are already digital.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&#8220;Rather, CBDCs are something close to the distortion of cryptocurrencies, or at least their fundamental principles and protocols. A crypto-fascist currency, an evil doppelg\u00e4nger, clearly designed to deprive users of ownership rights in their money and to make the state the intermediary in every transaction,&#8221; Snowden wrote.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>He stressed that CBDCs could be used to control citizens&#8217; funds. As an example, Snowden cited a hypothetical guard told by a doctor to limit sugar intake.<\/p>\n<p>To mitigate its risks, the man\u2019s insurer could pass information about his health to the body that controls the digital wallet. If he tries to buy a chocolate bar, the payment would simply fail.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier, Chinese authorities tested <a href=\"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/news\/china-to-trial-digital-yuan-with-restricted-use-cases\">the digital yuan with limited use cases<\/a>. The money could be spent exclusively on low-emission transport.<\/p>\n<p>As Snowden argued, <a href=\"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/news\/bitcoin-slips-below-42000-as-china-tightens-crypto-trading-regulation\">China&#8217;s crackdown<\/a> on the cryptocurrency industry <a href=\"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/news\/edward-snowden-sees-chinas-crackdown-on-crypto-as-a-boon-for-bitcoin\">\u201chas only strengthened Bitcoin\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Follow ForkLog&#8217;s Bitcoin news on our <a href=\"\/\/telegram.me\/forklog\" target=\"\u201c_blank\u201d\" rel=\"\u201cnofollow\u201d noopener\">Telegram<\/a> \u2014 cryptocurrency news, prices and analytics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Central bank digital currencies are &#8220;the latest danger hanging over society.&#8221; They &#8220;distort&#8221; the very nature of cryptocurrencies, said former NSA and CIA employee Edward Snowden.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50939,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"select":"1","news_style_id":"1","cryptorium_level":"","_short_excerpt_text":"","creation_source":"","_metatest_mainpost_news_update":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1095,1587],"class_list":["post-50938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-cbdc","tag-edward-snowden"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"views":"22","promo_type":"1","layout_type":"1","short_excerpt":"","is_update":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50938"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50938\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50940,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50938\/revisions\/50940"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}