Rep. Hill: How much money have you recovered? FinCEN: I don't know. Hill: How many criminals have you caught? FinCEN: I don't know.

If you have to intentionally "reduce the attractiveness" so your CBDC doesn't destroy the economy, maybe it's just a bad idea in the first place.

ECB's Lagarde pressures Parliament to support the digital euro ahead of tomorrow's vote while saying she's not pressuring them.

Everything central bankers have said a CBDC will do: Expand financial access to the unbanked. Improve the application of monetary policy. Increase the speed of payments. Improve cross-border payments. Increase competition. Increase financial system resilience. Enhance financial stability. Create programmable payments. Increase financial surveillance. Stop sanctions evasion. Evade sanctions. Enhance government payments. Enhance the digital transformation of the economy. Strengthen the international role of currencies. Prevent the use of cryptocurrency. Prevent dependency on foreign payment services. Establish universal acceptance. Compete with private services while also not competing with all private services. Replace cash while also complementing cash. Create a free option for consumers while still paying businesses’ fees. “Future-proof” the economy. Reduce currency fragmentation. Reduce costs for businesses and consumers. Create a foundation for financial innovation. Prevent discrimination against central bank money If you believe them, I have a bridge to sell you.

I've now been to 17 countries in my quest to raise awareness about CBDCs and financial privacy. What conferences should I be speaking at next? I need to pump those numbers up!

A crucial reminder at the @HRF Oslo Freedom Forum. You can’t just dismantle dictatorships. You have to replace them.

CBDC sales pitch of the century coming from the Central Bank of Ireland. /s File under "reinventing the wheel."

The Fourth Amendment does not expire with inflation. It does not pause at the border. And it does not bend to whichever crisis the government invokes this decade. It’s time for Americans to know that the Bank Secrecy Act is really the Bank Surveillance Act.

Did I hold up the Constitution to Congress? Yes. Did I reference the Grateful Dead? Also, yes.

Very pleased to share that I'll be testifying before Congress this Thursday on how the Bank Secrecy Act has failed!

Never a dull moment at Pubkey

No, this is not an April Fool's Day joke. This list really is everything policymakers claim a CBDC will do. https://www.cato.org/blog/cbdcs-cant-give-you-everything-everywhere-all-once

What should be done about stablecoins? The Reserve Bank of India says governments need to promote CBDCs. He says CBDCs are superior... as long as you assume every other country also has a CBDC.

Your bank may soon call asking you to prove your citizenship if this executive order goes through. https://www.cato.org/blog/know-citizenship-says-trump-banks

Responding to my work, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says, "I don't read the Cato Institute, but I do believe in financial surveillance"

Step 1: Campaign against CBDCs Step 2: Become President and issue an EO against CBDCs Step 3: Nominate the one pro-CBDC candidate, Kevin Warsh, for Federal Reserve Chair? Trump really is the president of contradictions.

The ECB isn't hiding it. Europeans will be forced to use the digital euro.

We've all seen Brian Armstrong set the record straight at the World Economic Forum when the Banque de France governor said he doesn't trust the company running bitcoin. But did you know that's not the only thing the governor got wrong? https://www.cato.org/blog/french-central-bank-wrong Villeroy de Galhau also tried to appeal to history by pointing to the experience of free banking in the United States. He described this era as suffering from “many crises of confidence.” He did so in an attempt to undermine trust in private money, but the only trust undermined here should be that in governments. What he didn’t say is that crises occurred during this period in large part because of the laws and regulations in place that made banks unstable. My colleague, George Selgin, has gone to great lengths to correct this record. The general public may be forgiven for not knowing this history, but central bankers have no excuse. Villeroy de Galhau then said gold was a “sovereign asset” governed by the state. However, this claim is similarly misleading. The use of gold as money predates legal tender laws. Villeroy de Galhau took this opportunity to also say that CBDCs are the next evolution of money. If CBDCs are an “evolution” of anything, they reflect the evolution of state control over monetary systems—not a natural progression arising from the market. Turning away from the forum, Villeroy de Galhau also mentioned his support for CBDCs in his “New Year’s address.” Curiously, he said, “2026 will see the first central bank digital currency.” Taken as written, this statement is wrong. The first CBDC was arguably created in 1992. That project died, but CBDCs have seen a resurgence. China, India, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Russia, The Bahamas, and others have all launched CBDCs in one form or another. So, in the first 21 days of 2026, the Banque de France governor managed to get it wrong on Bitcoin, US history, gold, and CBDCs. That track record is almost as bad as central banks managing inflation.

Secretary Scott Bessent is building a legacy of financial surveillance and control. The announcement that he is stopping Americans from sending their money abroad and increasing surveillance under the Bank Secrecy Act should be condemned. Yet, it should be no surprise. Yet, it should be no surprise. It was only just last year that Secretary Bessent increased financial surveillance to target transactions as little as $200. After being sued for this violation of fundamental freedoms, he responded by expanding surveillance to cover even more Americans. This playbook has been used time after time. When the Bank Secrecy Act was first passed, Congress claimed Americans were hiding money in Swiss bank accounts. Then it was expanded to fight the war on drugs. Then it was expanded again for the war on terror. Now it seems it’s the war on fraud. Fighting crime is a worthy endeavor. However, we cannot sacrifice the freedoms that make America great in the process.

@HRF asked me to share one of my favorite freedom tech projects. Here's what I had to say about @vexl 😎 While I was limited to just one, I also have to give shout-outs to Skot building Bitaxe, @calle building Cashu, and many more. The policy front may be depressing at times, but the people building solutions on the ground give me hope. See what everyone else on the HRF Freedom Tech Team had to say here.

Human Rights Foundation

Top 15 Freedom Tech Projects of 2025

Looking back on 2025, financial and digital repression under authoritarian regimes continued to grow. But so did the innovation pushing back agains...