After hearing opposition to the digital euro, MEP Lukas Sieper suggests that cash is only for criminals so the EU needs a CBDC.

LIVE NOW: ECB President Christine Lagarde says cash can't be used online so Europe needs a CBDC.

Update: The head of the Banque de France is stepping down.

The French Central Bank Is Wrong

In the first 21 days of 2026, the French central bank governor managed to get it wrong on Bitcoin, US history, gold, and CBDCs.

Apparently this is a hot take, but no party should be using gerrymandering to artificially draw lines and cut off voices of the other party. Don’t say you value democracy if you support your party doing this.

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

Live Now🔴: Christine Lagarde of the ECB says it is “vital” to “rapidly adopt” the digital euro.

I guess it shouldn't be surprising that two members of Congress who tried to create a CBDC also oppose strengthening financial privacy. Get the full break down in @The Rage

The Rage

Rep. Lynch is Wrong on the Bank Secrecy Act

The Massachusetts Congressman claims the BSA is "highly useful" to combat terrorism. The data says otherwise.

Ratio the White House side quest: Complete.

There is nothing better than seeing a problem and deciding to fix it. Massive respect to @BITCOIN DADA. Another great addition to the CCN 2025 top 100. Remember, folks: You can just do things.

CCN.com

Ivan on Tech and Lorraine Marcel

Ivan on Tech equips developers to build what those users will actually use, while Lorraine Marcel brings new users into Bitcoin through community e...

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.

Apologies all. I normally limit my Substack posts to one a week, but I managed to send two... at the exact same time. I'll hold off on any posts next week.

Banking, Bureaucracy, and Beyond | Nick Anthony | Substack

Everything you need to stay up to speed on the policy conversations surrounding central bank digital currency, financial privacy, banking, and more...

Ignorant about economic history? Biased against Bitcoin? Fond of making proclamations without research? Congratulations. You can lead a central bank. https://www.cato.org/blog/french-central-bank-wrong

A big thanks goes out to the FT for publishing my CBDC critique. TL;DR: It seems 70 economists don't understand economics.

Client Challenge

The ECB says concerns about CBDCs are "disinformation" and "nonsense."

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.

Banque de France Governor François Villeroy de Galhau: Central banks are more democratic and independent than "private issuers of bitcoin." Brian Armstrong: "In the sense that central banks have independence, Bitcoin is even more independent. There's [no one] who controls it."

68 economists have come out of the woodwork calling for the ECB to launch a CBDC. I guess this is a good reminder that just because a lot of people say something doesn’t mean it’s right. This letter is particularly troubling, though. I say that because their argument lacks an understanding of both central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and economic history. The economists claim that a CBDC like the digital euro would be “an essential safeguard of European sovereignty, stability, and resilience.” https://sustainablefinancelab.nl/wp-content/uploads/sites/506/2026/01/The-Digital-Euro-Let-te-public-interest-prevail.pdf Setting aside their lack of evidence to back the claim, where has this been true in practice? It certainly isn’t true in The Bahamas. https://www.cato.org/commentary/bahamians-didnt-want-cbdcs-so-now-theyre-being-forced-use-them It certainly isn’t true in Jamaica. https://www.cato.org/briefing-paper/cbdc-lessons-caribbean It certainly isn’t true in Nigeria.

Nigerians’ Rejection of Their CBDC Is a Cautionary Tale for Other Countries

Nigerians are protesting their country's CBDC and demanding renewed access to paper money, despite government incentives to use the digital currency.

Do I need to go on? The CBDC experience varies country to country, but no CBDC has been “essential” in any sense of the word.

CBDC Tracker

A CBDC is a digital national currency. In the case of the United States, a CBDC would be a digital form of the U.S. dollar whereas, in Nigeria, the...

Yet, even within Europe’s borders, the economists appear to misunderstand economic history. Pointing to the dominance of non-European financial institutions, the authors say the only defense is for the European government to intervene. Yet, interventions by the European government are partly why European businesses have struggled to gain ground. https://www.cato.org/blog/europe-blames-america-its-payment-problems-digital-euro-wont-help Rather than being free to serve customers, European businesses must navigate a maze of red tape: customer-surveillance mandates, extensive reporting rules, and regulatory fragmentation. Making matters worse, price controls—such as caps on interchange fees—prevent new entrants from generating the revenue needed to manage these compliance burdens. It’s not a market failure if the source of the issue is government intervention. If the economists are right about one thing, it’s that the European Parliament should be careful about who it takes advice from.

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 @npub1mftv...rkl3 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...