While everyone has been focused on getting a workable crypto market infrastructure bill through the US Senate, the Cato Institute, a Libertarian think tank, worries that the current legislation may boost the ability of the Feds to monitor your and possibly abuse your financial existence. In recent years the Feds, in cahoots with establishment banking, have already debanked individuals and entities for unjustifiable political reasons.
The rationale behind the approved payment stablecoin legislation in favor of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) is the fact a federally controlled digital dollar would simply be too tempting for government authorities to track user activity. While they would probably do in the name of pursuing illicit activities, everyone knows federal observation is not always benign.
Cato scholar Nicholas Anthony writes:
“Financial surveillance has been steadily expanding for 55 years. The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act is only the latest expansion. But the fight doesn’t stop with sparing cryptocurrency. The fight for financial privacy must also extend to traditional finance (yes, even car dealerships). Rather than rope new innovations into the old system, Congress should recognize that people want to reclaim their privacy. Congress should embrace that right across the entire financial system.”
Everyone should know by now that if an individual moves too much money ($10,000) the transfer is flagged. If a payment or transfer is deemed to be suspicious, the financial institution must send a SAR or Suspicious Activity Report to the Feds. Crypto may make all of this easier.
Anthony explains that current language means that crypto and all transfers and uses will be included within the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). He states it is time to push back.
While supporting digital asset innovation is imperative and frankly about time, the population and the people that represent them should be cautious in potential overreach in guarding against bad actors only to Hoover up information on the unsuspecting innocent. Granted it is a balancing act, but Cato raises good questions.
