IMF admits in paper that CBDCs would enable collection, storage and disclosure of personal data to police, creating a surveillance state

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has unveiled the security risks and fears surrounding central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) in a new report. In the report, the IMF admits that a central bank can collect a wealth of private data and even hand it over to authorities, acknowledging that critics of CBDCs are hostile to them.

The IMF document published on August 30 – “Use of Central Bank Digital Currency Data and Privacy Protection” – “provides a framework to help countries navigate, as well as tools to help them manage the trade-offs between CBDC data use and privacy protections,” the IMF said.

The IMF immediately begins its report by explaining how retail CBDCs contain all sorts of information whenever a transaction occurs, and can therefore be used by central banks and other entities for their own use, and can be turned back to government agencies and law enforcement for potential crimes, depending on national policy. The IMF wrote:

Central bank digital currency (CBDC), as a digital form of central bank money, could enable the collection and storage of a “digital trail” (data). Unlike cash, CBDC could be designed to potentially contain a wealth of personal data, including transaction histories, user demographics, and behavioral patterns. Personal data could provide a link between counterparty identities and transactions.

Like other payment data, CBDC data can have economic value. Data is non-rivalrous. Data is an infrastructural resource that can be used by an unlimited number of users and for an unlimited number of purposes as an input to produce goods and services. CBDC data can potentially be collected by financial institutions, which in turn can help develop data-driven businesses.

The authors later defined exactly what the collected data is. This includes the identity of the payer/payee, the pseudonymous identifiers of the payer/payee (account number or token address belonging to, or controlled by, a counterparty), transaction data and other transaction metadata of the payer and payee (name of the merchant, purchase location and spending category).

The authors further write:

Furthermore, the use of CBDC data can help central banks achieve policy objectives. It can help reduce information asymmetries, potentially help support financial inclusion, facilitate the interoperability of payment systems, and foster innovation and market competition. It can provide more timely information about the state of the world and help improve macroeconomic policymaking and regulatory compliance.

The use of data by central banks differs from that of law enforcement and national security authorities, which may have powers under national legal frameworks to lawfully access personal data. Where permitted by relevant laws, the use of CBDC data may provide greater traceability for such authorities to track or prevent illegal and fraudulent activities.

(…) If poorly designed or managed, the use of personal CBDC data could pose privacy risks resulting from events such as data breaches, data misuse, cyberattacks, and cross-border payment data flows, and thus negatively impact CBDC adoption. Technology alone cannot guarantee privacy protection. For example, even anonymized transactions can be re-identified and the data can be de-anonymized with metadata. (…) While many privacy concerns are already evident in existing digital payment systems, CBDCs could pose new challenges. CBDCs could be seen as a tool for state surveillance. Some worry that the government or central bank could use it to control or limit payments that users can make with CBDC, undermining public trust in central bank money.

These concerns persist despite the fact that the private sector often has extensive access to data, which is generally widely accepted and unchallenged compared to concerns about the collection and use of data by the official sector. It may be a particular concern in countries with serious vulnerabilities in governance and corruption. However, public attitudes towards state versus commercial surveillance also vary across countries.

(…) Technology can provide a range of anonymity and privacy options. It can help convince users which data are accessible to law enforcement, for example through “proofs of due execution.” These “proofs” can be verified and communicated to users to build trust. However, technology alone will not be sufficient to ensure trust. Strong legal and regulatory requirements and strong institutional safeguards for transparency and accountability will be needed to convince users that technology will not be misused and that perpetrators of privacy violations will be prosecuted. (…) Other stakeholders could be granted access to data, based on their mandate. For example, law enforcement agencies and financial intelligence agencies could have access to the above-mentioned data based on the execution of their mandate. Conditions for such access should be established in a fair, lawful and transparent manner, for example through legislation or regulation, or through court orders. (…) CBDC data enable commercial exploitation, while also increasing the possibility of state surveillance.

The rest of the paper focuses on the ways in which governments and central banks can mitigate these risks and distrust, by being open or reluctant to allow the public and outside agencies to view the data, by having programmability that prevents the CBDCs from being hacked, and by building trust and reputation with the public so that they accept the data.

The authors list a number of steps that authorities can take to achieve this:

Determine what data can be collected, stored, shared and used; define the roles and responsibilities of all parties involved in the CBDC ecosystem with regard to data access and use; and implement data protection measures such as data security and encryption
Determine who is responsible and accountable for compliance with the privacy principles. For example, banking supervisors should ensure that the PSP Board of Directors is held accountable for establishing processes and implementing privacy protection policies.
Establish institutional mechanisms to ensure that established privacy protection principles and policies are implemented, that stakeholders adhere to them, and that violators are held accountable.
Use traditional privacy protection tools such as choice, consent, control and transparency to provide sufficient privacy protection
Communicate with the public to provide information and transparency about the privacy implications of different CBDC design choices
Offer a rich menu of CBDC designs to cater to different users and different privacy preferences: from mostly anonymous wallets for small-value transactions to full identity wallets for larger-value transactions. Central banks can offer designs ranging from low-data-intensive (with high privacy protection requirements) to high-data-intensive (with less privacy protection requirements) designs
Determine how to convince the public that the central bank will not have access to CBDC data, if that is the central bank’s choice, depending on its own legal and regulatory practices.

Read the IMF report for more details.

AUTHOR’S COMMENT

After reading the document, the IMF is doing a lot of gaslighting, pretending to lay out “all the options” or something, when in reality they are telling us outright that implementing CBDCs will mean a total loss of freedom and liberty. We know the IMF is gaslighting just based on a number of other draconian statements it has made in recent years:

TO SEE: IMF announces it is working on ‘a new vision’ for a single global digital currency to eliminate cash

IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva urges governments to introduce carbon taxes to cut emissions

Singapore unveils standards for CBDCs in collaboration with IMF and Amazon

IMF calls for credit scores to be linked to internet search history

Digital Currency Monetary Authority launches international CBDC called ‘Unicoin’ at IMF meeting that will allow all countries to transact

It’s very simple and it doesn’t matter whether the metadata is shared in a public blockchain or not: If you don’t hold it, you don’t own it.

Proverbs 22:7 The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant of the moneylender.

Proverbs 29:5 He who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet.

In my opinion the International ~~Monetary~~ Mafia Fund has essentially outlined that CBDCs will completely erode any remaining freedoms, as these programmable tokens will be used against us at a whim. Everything will be tracked, so everything can perfectly be taxed and used against the masses. The IMF even acknowledges that these systems have the potential to be hacked – meaning they will eventually be hacked in the coming years.

We already knew this, but now the IMF is saying it openly…

TO SEE: SWIFT Banking System launches CBDC and tokenized platform, expected to be released in 2025 or 2026

World Bank explores interoperability of CBDCs in wholesale and retail, faster payment systems

Bank of Canada argues that ‘a CBDC could fill the role of cash as the economy and money become increasingly digital’

Latest $1.2 Trillion Omnibus Bill Removed Provision That Protected Against a CBDC and Phasing Out Paper Money

ECB chief Lagarde says CBDC will ‘replenish money’, claims they are working on new ‘beautiful banknotes’

Must Read: Top Economist and Professor Reveals Central Banks Want to Microchip People So They Can Manage CBDCs

Citibank says there will be $5 trillion of CBDCs in circulation ‘by the end of this decade’. Says mass adoption of cryptos will come through CBDCs

(7) Who goes out to war at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its fruit? Or who feeds a flock and does not eat its milk? (8) Do I say this as a man? or does not the law say the same? (9) For it is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle the ox when he treads out the corn.” Does God provide for oxen? (10) Or does he say, It all for our good? For our good, no doubt, this It is written: He who plows must plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope must be added to his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).

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