Financial surveillance, privacy and CBDCs: Why are governments going cashless?

When a lot of people think of security, they probably believe of cams on street corners, government companies gathering emails, or smartphones and wise house devices listening to discussions. There is another type of government and business security that gets less attention but is just as prevalent: monetary surveillance.On Episode 12 of The Agenda podcast, Jonathan DeYoung is signed up with by Marta Belcher, a cryptocurrency and civil liberties attorney who serves as president and chair of the Filecoin Foundation and basic counsel and head of policy at Protocol Labs, which helps develop the Filecoin procedure. The two discuss a wide range of subjects, from the ins and outs of financial surveillance in the United States to why governments are turning away from cash in favor of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Belcher believes that a substantial factor federal governments worldwide are developing CBDCs is to make financial monitoring simpler, and that these programs are part of more comprehensive initiatives to phase out cash and other untraceable transactions. “For the government to not just have visibility potentially into all of your financial transactions and to actually shut down other potential opportunities for those types of deals, but for the federal government to also be able to withdraw cash is actually scary.

There is another form of federal government and corporate monitoring that gets less attention but is just as prevalent: financial surveillance.On Episode 12 of The Agenda podcast, Jonathan DeYoung is joined by Marta Belcher, a cryptocurrency and civil liberties attorney who serves as president and chair of the Filecoin Foundation and basic counsel and head of policy at Protocol Labs, which helps establish the Filecoin protocol. The 2 go over a broad variety of subjects, from the ins and outs of financial monitoring in the United States to why federal governments are turning away from money in favor of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Belcher believes that a significant reason governments worldwide are establishing CBDCs is to make monetary surveillance easier, and that these programs are part of more comprehensive efforts to phase out money and other untraceable deals.

Belcher stated. “For the government to not just have visibility potentially into all of your monetary deals and to actually shut down other possible avenues for those types of deals, however for the federal government to also be able to withdraw money is actually scary.”To hear more from Belchers conversation with The Agenda– including her experience speaking with Edward Snowden, the benefits of personal privacy coins and what people can do to challenge surveillance– listen to the complete episode on Cointelegraphs Podcasts page, Apple Podcasts or Spotify.