Canada’s new budget pushes exploration of a central bank digital currency

Proposals for centralized control.

Canada’s recently released 2022 budget includes texts saying that the government will review the need for a central bank digital currency. Critics warn that digital currencies carry privacy risks, the potential for more government control, and the inability to use cash in the future.

The review will look into how “to maintain the security and stability of the financial system in light of these evolving business models and technological capabilities; and the potential need for a central bank digital currency in Canada.”

Related: Central Bank Digital Currencies make authoritarianism, censorship, and surveillance easy

In a section of the budget titled, “Addressing the Digitalization of Money,” the text reads that the government will “examine, among other factors: how to adapt the financial sector regulatory framework and toolbox to manage new digitalization risks.”

Central bank digital currencies raise concerns among privacy activists, including the lack of privacy in personal transactions and the ability to use cash in the future.

Other countries around the world are also considering central bank digital countries, including the US and the UK.

Last year, the UK government requested the Bank of England develop plans for a digital currency. Tory MP Steve Baker warned that such a digital currency “could enable a dramatic increase in state control of our lives.”

US President Joe Biden also issued an executive order asking federal agencies to research digital currencies and provide reports on their possible use and how they could be regulated.

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