>>5741662>>5748387>>5760501>>5760509>orb>Sam SaruAltmanI am afraid I do not possess in depth knowledge in the domain of Worldcoin or cryptocurrencies.
Beyond mere panopticon surveillance, I suspect digital currencies are mostly aimed at manoeuvring the populace towards ultimate acceptance of negative real interest rates, ie instead of banks paying you interest on deposits, you will pay the bank for the privilege of custodian services, holding your money.
Of course negative real interest rates sound unpalatable, they might call it something like "cybersecurity defense / protection fees" etc because in the next recession, the policy reaction function of central banks will need an even more artificially suppressed interest rate far below the zero bound to fuel more liquidity stimulus and even more debt (also US government stealth means of reneging on unrepayable overseas commitments) There has been extensive research conducted on negative real interest rates and their viability. Here is someone I met in the past discussing it
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/case-for-cbdc-overwhelming-in-coming-years-with-declining-interest-rates-by-willem-h-buiter-2023-04Apr 18, 2023
Willem H. Buiter
There is growing evidence to suggest that, in the coming years, the US Federal Reserve and other central banks will find themselves back where they were before the pandemic, with their primary policy instrument constrained by the natural real interest rate. Fortunately, this old problem now has a prudent technological solution.
(...)
>If the Fed again faces a situation where the federal funds rate is constrained by the ELB (effective lower bound), it will have lost its most effective instrument for providing stimulus to counter below-target inflation or excessive unemployment. Without being able to cut rates further, its only remaining tools will be quantitative easing (purchasing high-quality assets), qualitative easing (purchasing lower-grade financial claims), yield curve control (purchasing bonds of a certain maturity at whatever scale needed to keep their yields within a certain range), and forward guidance.
The bad news is that none of these options is as effective as interest-rate cuts in stimulating aggregate demand. Worse, quantitative and qualitative easing can potentially have serious adverse consequences for financial stability, and yield curve control is not something the Fed has ever done.
>The good news is that the Fed (and other central banks) do have one other promising option: ditch the ELB altogether by abolishing cash and introducing a well-designed wholesale and retail digital currency that is widely available to the general public. With a central bank digital currency, setting the policy rate at -5% could be as easy as setting it at 5%. (...)
