The presidential hopefuls Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Ron DeSantis lash out at the Federal Reserve’s FedNow payments system, claiming it would pave the way for a central bank digital currency.
In a Twitter thread on April 11, Democrat RFK Jr. – a nephew of former President John F. Kennedy Jr. – has once again called attention to CBDCs, describing them as the “ultimate mechanisms for surveillance and social control,” while questioning the Fed’s claims that that FedNow would not be used to facilitate the creation of a CBDC:
“The claim that FedNow is not the first step towards a CBDC would be easier to swallow if we were unaware of the Biden administration’s constant hostile barrage of cryptocurrencies.”
He added that cryptocurrencies like bitcoin (BTC) “give the public an escape route of the splash zone when this bubble invariably bursts” and claimed that the Joe Biden administration was “colluding with the bankers to keep us all trapped in the bubble of speculation and control.”.
The claim that FedNow is not the first step towards a CBDC would be more easily digestible were we not aware of the Biden administration’s steady barrage of hostile broadsides against cryptocurrencies.
Between 2008-22, the Fed partnered with a handful of big banks to print $10…
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) April 10, 2023
The claim that FedNow is not the first step towards a CBDC would be easier to swallow if we were unaware of the Biden administration’s constant hostile barrage of cryptocurrencies. Between 2008-22, the Fed partnered with a handful of big banks to print 10…
RFK Jr. filed his candidacy papers on April 5 and has been highly critical of CBCDsstating last week that they “grease the slippery slope to financial slavery and political tyranny.”
FedNow is a 24/7 instant payments system scheduled to launch in July to speed up transfers between financial institutions and businesseswhile offering a government-backed alternative to similar networks provided by the private sector.
The Federal Reserve has downplayed the possibility of the system being integrated into a CBDC. On April 8, answered to a series of FAQs saying that “no decision has been made” regarding issuing a CBDC and that it “would not do so without clear support from Congress and the executive branch, ideally in the form of a specific authorizing law.”
In an April 11 tweet in response to the Fed’s statement, Florida Republican Governor DeSantis stated that “it is not merely ‘ideal’ that major policy changes receive specific authorization from Congress; it is constitutionally required.”.
It is not merely “ideal” that major changes in policy receive specific authorization from Congress; it is constitutionally required.
Unaccountable institutions cannot impose a CBDC on Americans. They will tell us that CBDC won’t be abused but we are wise enough to know better.… https://t.co/OqJ27Lym2L
—Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) April 10, 2023
It is not merely “ideal” that major policy changes receive specific authorization from Congress; It is constitutionally required. Unaccountable institutions cannot impose a CBDC on Americans. They will tell us that CBDC will not be abused, but we are wise enough to know better… https://t.co/OqJ27Lym2L
“Unaccountable institutions cannot force CBDC on Americans,” DeSantis said. “They will tell us that they will not abuse [una] CBDC, but we are wise enough to know that this is not the case. This wolf comes as a wolf.”
Apparently, DeSantis is considering running for president and has also opposed CBDCs. On March 20, he called for CBDCs to be banned in Florida, citing their possible use to monitor and control citizens..
However, some remain unconvinced by these statements.
Speaking to NBC News on April 7, Aaron Klein, a former US Treasury official and chief economist of the Senate Banking Committee, argued that the privacy concerns held by JFK Jr. and DeSantis are misplaced..
Klein noted that financial institutions are already required to report transaction data under current anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing laws, so a CBDC would no longer invade privacy.
“Which [DeSantis] What is getting you wrong is this idea that there will be more reporting if there is a central bank digital currency than if it is a commercial bank digital currency,” he said..
Klein also spoke to AFP Fact Check on April 11 and stressed that FedNow is purely focused on accelerating current Fed payment lanes.
“There’s no difference in privacy or surveillance if you’re using your Visa card or a CBDC,” Klein said.adding that FedNow and CBDCs have “nothing to do with each other.”
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