Are Post Malone and Joe Rogan right to fear government control through CBDC?
Key Takeaways
- Joe Rogan and Post Malone strongly object to using a Central Bank Digital Currency
- The emergence of a government-controlled digital currency sparks fear of authoritarian ruling
Post Malone joined Joe Rogan on what is probably the most popular podcast on the planet, The Joe Rogan Experience . Among their discussion about music, arts, and the life of stars, the duo briefly discussed their thoughts on the implementation and adoption of a Central Bank Digital Currency in the US.
Besides their blatant rejection of adopting CBDC into their financial habits, Rogan and Malone highlighted some of the potential risks of adopting the financial technology.
CBDC & Social Credit
“No f*cking way. No way. That’s what I think. I think that’s checkmate. That’s game over. Because if they apply that to a social credit score — if they decide somehow or another that you need some social credit score system and it’s for the benefit of society, and they outline that, they can track your behavior and your tweets and all your things…They just decided you f*cked up, and the rules are the rules,” was Rogan’s immediate response to Malone’s question on what he thought about CBDCs.
Malone simply floated the question to keep the conversation going. However, the discussion quickly escalated to include opinions on the government’s surveillance of citizens’ activity, whether online or in the physical world.
Seemingly, Rogan and Malone’s main concern revolves around the potential implementation of a social credit system for American citizens and how it can be tied to citizens’ CBDC funds. The main idea behind the system is that it evaluates actions taken physically and digitally by each individual, assign a certain score to it, and tally up the score to quantify how “good” each citizen is in the eyes of the government.
Should a social credit system get implemented in the US while people’s finances are held in CBDC, there would be virtually no reason for one not to influence the other.
A similar system can be seen in China . Although the nation’s ruling party, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) consists of over 98 million members, it is only a handful who make the rules regarding how all citizens should behave.
Repercussions of bad social credit in the Chinese system can include banning citizens from accessing financial services, being denied certain mortgage and loan programs, and even being denied the freedom to use airline travel.
News On The CBDC
Gary Gensler, Chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the regulating body overseeing digital assets, last month had an interview with CNBC where he clearly expressed his disapproval of CBDC.
“Look, we don’t need more digital currency,” exclaimed Gensler. “We already have digital currency. It’s called the U.S. dollar. It’s called the euro or it’s called the yen; they’re all digital right now.”
Gensler has also been going head-to-head with government representatives. During a House hearing, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell expressed his criticism of Gensler’s leadership of the SEC.
Powell believes that the government should support the development of CBDC and stablecoins whose value is pegged against the US Dollar.
However, the implementation of CBDC is a matter of “if” rather than “when”. So, for now, Rogan, Malone, and the rest of us can stay assured for now.
