Former CIA turned whistleblower Edward Snowden calls central bank digital currencies the 'evil twin' of decentralized cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. For him, CBDCs - as they are known as Central Bank Digital Currencies - are "crypto-fascist" tools.

"A Perversion Of Cryptocurrency..."

The computer specialist, who resides in Russia as a fugitive from US justice for leaking thousands of 'top secret' documents wrote on his personal blog.

"I will tell you what a CBDC is NOT—it is NOT, as Wikipedia might tell you, a digital dollar. After all, most dollars are already digital, existing not as something folded in your wallet, but as an entry in a bank’s database, faithfully requested and rendered beneath the glass of your phone.

Instead, a CBDC is something closer to being a perversion of cryptocurrency, or at least of the founding principles and protocols of cryptocurrency—a cryptofascist currency, an evil twin entered into the ledgers on Opposite Day, expressly designed to deny its users the basic ownership of their money and to install the State at the mediating center of every transaction. "

Snowden, values ​​privacy across the board, including financially, which is why the idea of an 'official state ledger' that can be continuously scrutinized and eternally reviewed alarms him.

Where Things Stand Now...

The 'Digital Yuan' which is the CBDC to be issued by the Central Bank of China in the 'advanced stage' of testing - total anonymity is not possible and the Government decides who can have permission to access the centralized database in which transactions are recorded.

Both the United States and European Union say they're in the process of evaluating the benefits of issuing their own CBDC's, the 'digital dollar' and 'digital euro'.

-------
Author: Mark Pippen
London News Desk / Breaking Crypto News

The Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) is currently in the process of research and development at many financial institutions around the world, and is the subject of debate among global financial transactions and local governments as each makes its own decisions.

Completely separate from the cryptocurrency market, Ripple is now developing new solutions for traditional banks launching CBDC's and has announced that it has implemented a pilot program with privacy locks that may be useful in this market.

Perhaps Ripple is trying to secure their future, if challenges that their XRP token was launched illegally don't go their way.

XRP's Tech To Be Used...

Although with a new purpose, they're pitching the same tech XRP transactions currently use, stating:

"Transactions on the CBDC Private Ledger are verified by the same consensus protocol used by the XRP Ledger, which is far less energy intensive, and therefore less expensive and 61,000 times more efficient than public blockchains that leverage proof-of-work.

In addition to leveraging the XRP Ledger technology, the CBDC Private Ledger is also supported by RippleNet technologies, and the Interledger suite of protocols to enable ultra-high throughput use-cases such as micro-payments."

No Longer A Matter Of  "If" But "When"...

CBDC's will become commonplace, that much is obvious. The US is in early stages of developing theirs, and even smaller countries such as Lithuania and the Bahamas have announced their digital currencies.

However, currently all eyes are on China preparing to launch their "digital yuan".

------- 
Author: Justin Derbek
New York News Desk
Breaking Crypto News