🏦 CBDCs: To Be Or Not To Be?

Discover the news of the week [View in Browser]( [Gif Ledger Bites]( Do you know that Ledger has a B2B branch called [Ledger Enterprise]( Ledger Enterprise is the world’s most secure platform allowing institutions to onboard Web3 by building their own business value across all industries (NFTs, DeFi, staking, etc). Web3 won’t scale without enterprises and they need professional tools for it. Are you a company willing to securely onboard Web3? Contact us [here](. Follow [Ledger Enterprise]( on Twitter [here](. [[ratio]    ]( [In the know] [BNB Chain resumes services after an exploit.]( Over half a billion worth of $BNB has been hacked. A blockchain developer said that the hack could have been “either the first or second biggest hack of all time.” [Hugo Boss to launch NFT and “360-degree Metaverse experience.”]( Its strategy is to take its apparel into the Metaverse as part of a “global refresh” of its brand. The NFT collection will consist of 1,001 three-dimensional animations and will be entitled Embrace Your Emotions (EYE). [SWIFT, the global financial messaging system, moves towards CBDCs.]( has just set out a blueprint for a global CBDC system claiming to have solved interoperability challenges between different networks. "Blockchain networks could be interlinked for cross-border payments through a single gateway," SWIFT said. [DogeCoin pumps over Elon Musk’s Twitter rumored takeover again.]( The meme coin is up 5% in the past 7 days, amid bear market conditions. An immediate pump occurred right after Musk’s attorneys sent a letter proposing to buy the social media company for $54.2 per share. [Decentralized Social Network DeSo Token among best weekly performers.]( surge is explained by the network’s plan to integrate Circle’s widespread USDC stablecoin and to allow developers to create “social apps” that cannot be taken offline. [Is U.S. inflation on its way down?]( After a hot summer, U.S. hiring has cooled down with job vacancies declining by 10% in August. "I think this is good news for the Federal Reserve," said Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP. "You are seeing some softening in early-stage demand for workers.” [Figures] [BTC correlation with gold]( [SushiSwap growth]( [Insight of the week] CBDCs: To Be Or Not To Be? CBDCs: one notion, but many controversies. One thing is certain: with more than 80% of global Central Banks [eyeing]( CBDCs, these State-issued tokens are coming fast and will change how our economies are run forever, arousing both excitement and confusion over their consequences on our daily lives. The Real e-Economy? CBDCs are a digital version of cash. You may wonder, what’s the difference with online payment platforms that we use? The main one, as [The Economist]( explains, is that “money held on a CBDC app will be equivalent to a deposit at the central bank.” With CBDCs, Central Banks’ rationale is to limit the shift to cashless payments or decentralized coins and avoid a world where “everyday transactions would depend on private companies rather than on central banks.” For Central Banks, a State-issued token offers a safer, faster and more flexible alternative to today’s notes and coins. It’s a smart and efficient economic instrument, too. Let’s say that a region in Europe is hit by an earthquake. The government could use mobile wallets to make tailored CBDC injections to damaged populations. Libra, Facebook’s extinct crypto project, died because of its potential destabilizing effect on the world economy, among other factors. Believing that CBDCs will have the same fate is misleading. Most Central Banks around the world are launching CBDC projects, the ECB has [just confirmed]( it is launching a wholesale digital euro over upcoming years and [the Fed]( is seriously considering to follow suit. Yes, the world economy is about to change. Should We Be Wary Of CBDC’s Development? For many, these State-issued tokens have a dark side. “CBDCs is the most powerful tool for human oppression yet devised by man,” says Seth Hertlein, Global Head of Policy at Ledger. “CBDCs gives central governments direct visibility and control over users’ every transaction.” While those living in ostensible democracies may not appreciate this risk, one need look no further than China to see the real world implications of CBDCs. Hertlein paints the picture of how it could go wrong: “Say the wrong thing on social media; your wallet is frozen. Attend a public demonstration; your wallet is drained. Make too much money; congrats - your balance now has negative interest rates. You’d like to purchase [meat/cigarettes/alcohol/a firearm/a book/a car/a flight/birth control/an abortion/etc.]; sorry, purchase denied. You’d like to send [X amount] to a [friend/family/charity/etc.]; sorry, please visit your local government office for processing.” Moreover, the unparalleled traceability of CBDCs would give governments one more way to track you in real time: where you go, who you associate with, what you buy. “Paired with other emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, facial recognition, blockchain analytics, and social credit scoring, CBDCs represent not only the death of privacy but also, for the first time in the history, the power of governments to completely subjugate their populations,” adds Hertlein. Charles Guillemet, CTO at Ledger, puts it this way: “CBDCs replacing other forms of money could be a complete financial dystopia that even Orwell couldn't think of.” The risk? To create a new kind of Big Brother that would control our daily consuming habits. CBDCs could make the whole economy fully programmable, too. That’s a breakthrough innovation. For instance, a CBDC would provide Central Bankers with the absolute power to manipulate citizens’ transactions and consuming behavior to turbo-charge spending on specific items, or ban them. The real question is: where is the limit to this unprecedented power? CBDCs may be criticized, but they will materialize soon enough. Rather than denying the very possibility of their existence, the main attention should center on their design and features. The CBDC debate around decentralization and privacy has barely started. [I wanna know more] The Ledger Academy tells you everything you need to know about [CBDCs](. This week, our CXO Ian Rogers and Linkin Park founder Mike Shinoda sat down to answer your questions about crypto & NFT security, Web3 hardware wallets and more! It’s [all here](. 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