Totalitarian Money?

The Case against Central Bank Digital Currencies

Quantity

Kevin Dowd's Totalitarian Money? provides a comprehensive critique of proposals to establish CBDCs (central bank digital currencies) around the world. He argues that they are economically inefficient, as they provide no benefits that cannot be obtained by other means. He explains why CBDCs are dangerous to financial stability and personal freedom as they enable digital currency to be weaponised against people to comply with the political or social agendas of those in control. Dowd reveals that, despite being promoted by central banks as the next 'big thing', public demand for CBDCs is negligible and they have been rejected by the public wherever they have been introduced. Evaluating the track record of countries that have introduced CBDCs, Dowd explores the drawbacks of CBDCs and explains why the private sector is better equipped to provide a retail digital currency to the general public.

• Provides a highly critical overview of CBDCs, arguing that they provide no benefits that cannot be obtained in other ways, and that they entail major drawbacks especially to individual freedom
• Gives the reader a solid and easy-to-grasp understanding of how CBDCs work and of the risks and potential damage they entail
• Sets out and evaluates the track record of CBDCs in countries that have introduced them. This track record can be summarized by saying that the public have decisively rejected CBDCs everywhere they have been attempted