This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Tuesday, April 4,

2023.

I'm Caleb Brown.

Several central banks have now launched their own central bank

digital currencies, and US policymakers are now

discussing the idea.

Cato's Nick Anthony is co-author of a new Cato paper detailing the risks and myths surrounding

CBDCs.

He argues that the potential new currency would deliver zero unique benefits for the American people,

while at the same time posing serious risks to financial privacy and economic freedom.

You and I have now talked about digital currency. privacy and economic freedom.

You and I have now talked about digital currencies, Central Bank digital

currencies a couple of times now and when proponents talk about it does everything. It's like a late night

infomercial this thing can do it all. What are they talking about? What are the specific features that they point to?

There's a little bit of a laundry list here that people point to, but the most common ones are that people point to

improving financial inclusion,

faster payments, monetary policy,

and for the dollar specifically,

really establishing and protecting the dollar status as the world's reserve currency.

Those are typically the ones that we hear most often come forward by proponents.

So Christine Lagarde, our colleague George Selgen, has mentioned some comments that she had made

I guess a while back and her comments were sort of rooted in what seems like a fear that

...