⚠️ HRF CBDC ⛓️🪙 alert from HRF for Philippines (09-MAR-2024)

🗝️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 Philippines' central bank, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, is pursuing the development of a wholesale Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), despite concerns over financial exclusion, legislative challenges, and the impact of government corruption on the future use of the digital currency.

Analyzing the TEXT:

✅ In 2022, The 🇵🇭 is in the pilot phase for a wholesale CBDC, known as Project CBDCPh, aimed at promoting the stability of the nation's payment system.

✅ The governor of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Eli Remolona Jr. envisages a wholesale CBDC by 2026, despite indicating there's no pressing necessity for it.

✅ Governor Benjamin E. Diokno, in 2022, voiced both optimism and concern regarding the CBDC, recognizing its potential to improve payment efficiency but questioning its effectiveness in addressing financial exclusion.

✅ A new pilot CBDC, Project Agila, was initiated in 2023 with the support of International Monetary Fund and the Bank for International Settlements, involving 10 financial institutions within an experimental environment.

✅ By 2024, the focus was shifted entirely onto wholesale CBDC, excluding retail CBDC from the central bank's agenda.

✅ Concerns arise from the potential misuse of CBDCs to suppress opposition and exacerbate corruption amid already low freedom scores by Freedom House and reported harassment against journalists.

✅ CBDCs may increase the ease for governments to control citizens' finances directly and use the system for political gain amidst prevailing corruption.

Relevant Hashtags:

#CBDC #CentralBanking #PhilippinesCBDC #FinancialInclusion #GovernmentCorruption #FreedomHouse

Thought-provoking Question:

Considering the potential misuse of CBDCs for suppressing opposition and encouraging corruption, how can the design and application of CBDCs be safeguarded to protect individual liberties and prohibit their misuse?

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)

CBDC Tracker bot brought to you by npub18s59mqct7se3xkhxr3epkagvuydwtvhpsacj67shrta8eknynegqttz5c3

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