Last month, a prank video by two podcasters called Van and Lexus posing as Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, who pulled a fast one on Christine Lagarde, the president of the European Central Bank (ECB), was uploaded to the web. In the video, Lagarde generously shares information with “Zelensky” regarding the European Union’s plans for the digital currency; It confirms that they intend to approve the digital euro project on behalf of the central bank (CBDC); The final decision date is October 2023, and they are preparing for it.
Lagarde continued to reveal that the purpose of the new digital currency is indeed to implement control: to control the payments that people can make.
“Zelensky” discusses with Lagarde the backlash of European citizens regarding the introduction of the digital euro and adds that “the problem is that they don’t want to be controlled” in that way, Lagarde admits, “There will be control, you are right. We are considering the possibility of instituting a mechanism with zero control for smaller sums of up to 300-400 euros.”
“However,” she added, “it can be dangerous, since very small transactions, completely anonymous, can finance terrorist attacks like those we saw ten years ago in France.”
Another argument of Lagarde in favour of the CBDC, is that they do not want Europe to depend on “the currency of an unfriendly country”, such as the Chinese or Russian currency or “on a friendly currency that is operated by a private corporate entity like Meta (Facebook) or Google” that can “take over the sovereignty of Europe”.
It sounds like the people pulling the strings have already justified the launch of the digital euro, and are now busy strengthening their lobby, in order to sanction the abomination and gather all the necessary support by this October. Another interesting detail is that Christine Lagarde was found guilty of misuse of public funds (2016, France) because she approved a massive payment of taxpayers’ money to the controversial French businessman Bernard Tapie, when she was Minister of Finance in the Sarkozy government. Surprisingly, she was spared a prison sentence and was neither fined nor penalised, despite having been found guilty.
At the same time, the introduction of central bank digital currency is progressing relatively quickly in other countries around the world. The Governor of South Dakota, Kristi Noem, recently vetoed a bill which outlaws crypto-currencies and bitcoin, and at the same time paves the way for the launch of CBDC. Noem says in an interview for Fox News that she and her team read the entire long bill and understood that it means denying the autonomy of Sth. Dakota citizens to choose the way in which they will use their money, and therefore vetoed it, in order to continue respecting civil rights and the American Constitution, above any law or authority from another institution. Noem emphasized that her role is to protect the citizens – a statement not frequently made these days.
The Governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, as well as the new candidate for the US presidency, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., recently issued public statements against the initiative to launch CBDC for the citizens of Florida and the US respectively.
Last month we were informed by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), which is the central bank of central banks, the big big brother of money in the world, that the “Ice Breaker” project was successfully completed; “Ice Breaker” is a project to prove the feasibility of international payments using CBDCs between Israel, Norway and Sweden.
To further prove that point, a few days ago in Israel, a press release was issued by the Bank of Israel describing the possible events that, were they to occur, would lead to a decision to launch of the central bank’s digital shekel, and informed the public that the steering committee is preparing and readying the Bank of Israel for the issuing of the digital shekel if, as mentioned, these events actually become a reality.
In other words, the Bank of Israel is preparing us, the public, that the issuance of the digital shekel will only be a matter of time considering global developments in the field. In the announcement, five reasons for the expedition and acceleration of the digital currency are explained:
1) The need to keep up with other countries issuing CBDCs.
2) The future reduction cash usage as a means of payment, while expanding the use of payment apps and electronic means of payment in general.
3) The prevalence of payment in stable coins [such as crypto or bitcoin – EF] or in other private means of payment (meaning that is not a digital shekel) might impede the payment system.
4) The issuance of a digital currency by the central bank would support competition in the payment system and in the financial system in the digital age.
5) The issuance of a digital shekel could be justified with hindsight, since it could provide an efficient and safe platform for advanced technological applications.
The official document accompanying the press release expands on these projected scenarios but does not touch at all on the threat CBDCs pose to civil rights, including infringement on privacy, the curtailing of civil autonomy, and increased control of citizens. The only reference in the document to any risk concerns damage to the Israeli banking system.
Last month the ANZ bank, Australia’s second largest bank, has removed the…
Continue reading full story here