🗝️ℹ️ (Key Information)
CBDC Status: Pilot
CBDC Launch: n/a
CBDC Model: n/a
CBDC Issued: n/a
Inflation Rate: 5.82%
One-sentence summary:
The Human Rights Foundation warns about the potential misuse of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) for corruption and control, as the 🇵🇭 Philippines gears up to launch a wholesale CBDC by 2026, eschewing the idea of a retail CBDC.
✅ The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas kick-started a pilot phase in 2022 for a wholesale CBDC, dubbed Project CBDCPh, focusing on the stability of the country's payment system, with an aim to issue it by 2026.
✅ The then governor Benjamin E. Diokno expressed optimism in 2022, but also highlighted the unaddressed issues of financial exclusion, while also implying the need for legislation for a retail CBDC.
✅ In 2023, a new CBDC pilot Project Agila was announced, again focusing on improved payments efficiency and stability, backed by multiple financial institutions and supported by the International Monetary Fund and the Bank for International Settlements.
✅ By 2024, the central bank decided against using blockchain technology and also against pursuing a retail CBDC—instead, it pivoted its attention entirely to a wholesale CBDC with a pilot to conclude by the end of the year.
✅ Given the 🇵🇭 Philippines' ranking of 58 out of 100 in Freedom House’s 2023 Freedom in the World report, concerns arise about government corruption and limits on free speech, which could worsen with the advent of a CBDC.
✅ The control that a CBDC provides could facilitate financial clamping down on activists, political rivals, and protestors, giving the government a new, robust tool for suppression.
✅ Corruption and political favoritism are potential risks with CBDCs, creating doubts around promises to limit surveillance and control, and the political biases that may color CBDC policies.
#HumanRights #FinancialInclusion #DigitalCurrency #PrivacyRights #Philippines #Freedom
How can we ensure that the development of CBDCs does not undermine human rights and individual financial freedoms, especially in nations with persistent governmental corruption? Let's hear your thoughts and ideas.
Disclaimer: This is an AI-generated summary of the original text from HRF, forigve fuck-ups plox. If you find it useful, ⚡ the Tracker Bot because the AI and Cloud bits are not free to run.
Source of data: https://cbdctracker.hrf.org/home (npub1zhqcda52mrvcc0vkwegwsp5xtpk6l6x5kqx85f06tu9lw5h6xx0scch0dw)
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