A warning from one of the earliest ‘Bitcoiners’

Written by Joshua Scigala, CEO, TheStandard.io

Looking at the context of global central bank-issued digital currencies (CBDCs), the thought of real-time decentralised settlement seems like a thing of the past. As an old-school cypherpunk working in Bitcoin since 2010, I ask you, dear reader, to pause and think about the consequences first. Let's break down what a CBDC is: many say we're already using digital currencies, with most transactions being credit cards or bank transfers, but there is a key difference between the current digital currencies and CBDC's. That difference is real-time centralised settlement.

If you make a £100 payment from your bank or another bank in the UK, the transaction is not sent immediately. Instead, a message is sent via SWIFT that your bank owes the receiving bank £100 pounds.

The record of your bank's debt to the store's bank is made via electronic message. This transaction is just one of the millions of electronic transactions occurring daily in the UK. At the end of every 24 hours, your bank's total …