Privacy and civil liberties organisation, Big Brother Watch has released a new report on CBDCs titled CBDC – a privacy-eroding pound? Lessons from international central bank digital currency pilots for the UK.
The report analyses CBDC projects in Nigeria, Jamaica, Israel, Uruguay, Sweden, the EU and China. It concludes that none of these projects strongly indicate that a CBDC that properly preserves privacy and, instead of solving the issue of financial exclusion, it exacerbates it.
Susannah Copson, legal and policy officer at Big Brother Watch said:
“Just as has been the case for international CBDC projects, the UK Government is yet to show why we need UK CBDC – particularly given the series of risks to fundamental rights and freedoms”
“It is vital that the Government now take notice of the many problems international CBDC pilots have encountered and rethink their current plans for a centralised digital pound.”
The report will be launched today at Parliament with Conservative MP Danny Kruger and Labour MP and former shadow chancellor John McDonnell in attendance.
PoliticsHome – Civil Liberties Campaigners Warn Digital Pound Could Be “Detrimental” To Privacy