CBDCs: “Financial inclusion” means the inclusion of all transactions not people
To try to make central bank digital currencies sound benign, proponents repeatedly use the word “financial inclusion.”
They are trying to convince us that the world needs CBDCs so that those who are “unbanked” can participate in the digital economy without requiring a bank account. This is, of course, absurd...
CBDCs: “Financial inclusion” means the inclusion of all transactions not people
To try to make central bank digital currencies sound benign, proponents repeatedly use the word “financial inclusion.”
They are trying to convince us that the world needs CBDCs so that those who are “unbanked” can participate in the digital economy without requiring a bank account. This is, of course, absurd...
Bitcoin is built on a distributed digital record called a blockchain. As the name implies, blockchain is a linked body of data, made up of units called blocks that contain information about each and every transaction, including date and time, total value, buyer and seller, and a unique identifying code for each exchange. Entries are strung together in chronological order, creating a digital chain of blocks. “Once a block is added to the blockchain, it becomes accessible to anyone who wishes to view it, acting as a public ledger of cryptocurrency transactions,” says Stacey Harris, consultant for Pelicoin, a network of cryptocurrency ATMs. Blockchain is decentralized, which means it’s not controlled by any one organization. “It’s like a Google Doc that anyone can work on,” says Buchi Okoro, CEO and co-founder of African cryptocurrency exchange Quidax. “Nobody owns it, but anyone who has a link can contribute to it. And as different people update it, your copy also gets updated.”
Importantly, that investor viewpoint is not new. It cycles in when conditions are right (and vice versa). It also brings the ineffective warnings of an overpriced market with it.Looking toward a good 2022 stock market, there is no apparent reason to expect these issues to change.
