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LONDON, England, July 28, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – The U.K government has partnered with the Bank of England to draw up plans for a digital currency for use “alongside” cash, in a move which some have warned will usher in a “dramatic increase in state control of our lives.”
Back in April, Her Majesty’s Treasury and the Bank of England announced their decision to investigate the benefits of a central bank digital currency, Associated Press News reported.
This idea is promoted by the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, who called the digital currency “Britcoin.” A taskforce has been established to assess the idea and provide advice to the government on the topic. It is jointly led by the Bank of England’s deputy governor for financial stability, Jon Cunliffe, as well as the Treasury’s director general of financial services, Katharine Braddick.
“Our vision is for a more open, greener, and more technologically advanced financial services sector,” Sunak claimed. “And if we can capture the extraordinary potential of technology, we’ll cement the U.K.’s position as the world’s preeminent financial center.”
The new plan would consist of the Bank of England instituting a direct digital equivalent to physical money and remaining in charge of the currency. While the digital money would allegedly not replace cash, it would be accepted by regular retailers and other companies for ordinary purchases that would have previously been paid for with a debit or credit card.
The taskforce has the role of formulating how such a policy could be implemented in the U.K., as well as guiding the design for the digital currency. Members of the taskforce have to ensure that the “UK remains at the forefront of global innovation” by monitoring global activity in the development of digital currency.
Supporters of this idea claim that digital currency would enable the Bank to give the economy a boost in times of financial crisis. They could merely deposit “Britcoin” directly into individual bank accounts. This would hypothetically stimulate the economy in times of crisis more effectively than the system of quantitative easing, which has become predominant in recent years.
Anne Boden, founder and chief executive of app-based Starling Bank, alleged, “The world is going the way of digital currencies and we have to find a place for them in the mainstream.”
After more recent media reports stating that Britcoin was set to replace physical money, Sunak defended his concept for implementing a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), saying that there were still “a number of important considerations” still to be decided upon, and hence no decision had been officially made. He re-iterated his statement that the crypto-currency would not replace physical money, but would be used alongside “cash and bank deposits.”
However, the plan has drawn criticism from a number of commentators. When news of the plan first broke in April, the Daily Telegraph’s assistant editor Jeremy Warner, warned that the current levels of state enforced restrictions for COVID-19 were “nothing compared to what may be coming down the line at us.”
“If the central bank maintains a single ledger of all transactions, then it is also in a position to know virtually everything that is going on in the world around it,” wrote Warner. “Credit provision might instead be concentrated in the hands of the state. Is this a shake-up we really want to pursue?”
Warner was echoed by the outspoken lockdown skeptic and bestselling author, Carl Vernon, who wrote that vaccine passports and “Britcoin” heralded a loss of freedom: “The plan is moving swiftly ahead and with it say bye-bye to freedom and autonomy.”
Conservative MP Steve Baker, the deputy chair of the COVID-19 Recovery Group, also opposed the proposed “Britcoin,” suggesting it “could enable a dramatic increase in state control of our lives.”
The U.K. is not alone is pursuing plans for digital currencies. Notably, the Chinese government is currently testing a digital yuan, while U.S. Treasury secretary Janet Yellen has indicated that a digital currency is a potential option. Likewise, the European Central Bank is exploring plans for a digital euro.
The government is currently also proposing a digital ID network, which would prove one’s identity in any situation, such as setting up a bank, buying a house, or taking out a loan. The ID would also be able to provide history and evidence of a person’s vaccination status. Should an individual be deemed to have acted illegally or somehow violate the terms of use, then the as yet unidentified government body overseeing the project could simply terminate the ID account, rendering the person unable to access normal life without such ID.
Digital currency a step to governmental control in the Great Reset
The push for digital currency, a growing trend among world leaders, has been proven to be one of the hallmarks of the “Great Reset,” a plan which Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò warns is a plan by billionaire elites to implement a globalist socialist surveillance state.
The leader of the World Economic Forum, Klaus Schwab, suggested that an alternative currency will be needed since the American dollar will be insufficient. He predicted that a global digital currency is eventually going to arrive.
Currently, global debt levels are at their highest point since the Second World War and are predicted to increase by $92 trillion before the end of the year. To combat this, the architects of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) “Great Reset” are poised to counter the economic crisis by enacting their plan to “reimagine” and “reset” capitalism.
According to Schwab, the financial crisis brought about by massive government spending due to COVID-19, combined with other so-called crises such as “climate change,” means world governments “must build entirely new foundations for our economic and social systems.”
“There are many reasons to pursue a Great Reset,” Schwab alleged, “but the most urgent is COVID-19.”
In articles, talks, and a book entitled “Covid-19: The Great Reset” published last year, Schwab has persistently argued that the coronavirus pandemic ought to be used to instigate a “Great Reset” to “revamp all aspects of our societies and economies, from education to social contracts and working conditions.”
Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Housing Catherine Austin Fitts has revealed that measures being implemented under the cover of COVID-19 lay the foundation for a new global central banking machine and a technocratic “regulatory and economic model that permits far greater central control.”
She stated that a digital surveillance and a social credit system will enable the central-bank-controlled “credit” to be “adjusted or turned off on an individual basis.”
Likewise, General Manager Agustín Carstens of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) recently admitted this, saying that a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) would give central banks “absolute control” over CBDC use “and the technology to enforce” CBDC rules and regulations.
Already, people who do not comply with the popular social agenda are being denied access to their money by banks. Last year, a British bank threatened to cancel the accounts of patrons who entered the bank without face coverings. In June 2021, an American bank shut down the account of a conservative Christian activist, leaving her stranded without money outside her home state.
LifeSite has previously reported on how the financial sphere is being altered to conform to the agendas of those in control of financial institutions. The Network of Central Banks and Supervisors for Greening the Financial System (NGFS), an international group of “Central Banks and supervisors” with the purpose of transforming the global economy in alignment with green, sustainable policies, and the Great Reset’s green agenda. Such a system could easily be used to cut off individuals and businesses who do not conform to the green agenda, as outlined by Klaus Schwab himself.
The NGFS now contains “all of the global systemically important banks and two thirds of global systemically important insurers,” including the Bank of England, which is now promoting the digital currency system.
Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund published an article in March this year, arguing for the use of internet history to determine a Chinese style system of social credit scoring, which could then “be used in financial services provision.”
The article, written by contributors to the WEF, argued that internet history could be used to improve the accurate assessment of credit “worthiness,” a concept that appears to be inspired by China’s social credit system, whereby Chinese citizens are given certain permissions (or not) in society depending on their social credit score.