But today, I want to revisit a topic I haven’t addressed much lately due to the pandemic, the inflation debate, and many other topics that have taken center stage.
I’m talking about the war on cash.
I’ve warned for a long time that governments are forcing citizens into digital forms of money so that they can more easily freeze accounts, seize assets and impose negative interest rates. As long as cash is an option, you can take your cash outside the system and avoid digital freezes.
Cash prevents central banks from imposing negative interest rates because if they did, people would withdraw their cash from the banking system.
If they stuff their cash in a mattress, they don’t earn anything on it; that’s true. But at least they’re not losing anything on it.
Once all money is digital, you won’t have the option of withdrawing your cash and avoiding negative rates. You will be trapped in a digital pen with no way out.
The movement toward a cash-free society is gathering momentum, but it’s not entirely here yet.
Access Denied!
That’s not stopping some financial institutions from taking your money anyway. For example, a banking app called Chime has been seizing customer accounts and not allowing them to log on or access their funds.
Chime has 12 million customers. So far, 970 customer complaints have been filed, of which 197 specifically mention “closed account” as the cause of the complaint. Many of the remaining 723 complaints involve closed accounts, although the regulatory records do not categorize them that way.
In some cases of individual retail customers, the amount frozen was $10,000 or more. The complaints are being resolved slowly and inconsistently. In the meantime, the customers’ funds are blocked.
The only surprise in this story is that these kinds of account blocks have not happened sooner or on a larger scale. Still, this is the tip of the spear; far more account freezes of this kind are coming.
Chime is a retail application used mainly on smartphones. But, central banks are working from the top down to create central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) that will enable bank regulators to do the same thing.
That’s not stopping some financial institutions from taking your money anyway. For example, a banking app called Chime has been seizing customer accounts and not allowing them to log on or access their funds.
Chime has 12 million customers. So far, 970 customer complaints have been filed, of which 197 specifically mention “closed account” as the cause of the complaint. Many of the remaining 723 complaints involve closed accounts, although the regulatory records do not categorize them that way.
In some cases of individual retail customers, the amount frozen was $10,000 or more. The complaints are being resolved slowly and inconsistently. In the meantime, the customers’ funds are blocked.
The only surprise in this story is that these kinds of account blocks have not happened sooner or on a larger scale. Still, this is the tip of the spear; far more account freezes of this kind are coming.
Chime is a retail application used mainly on smartphones. But, central banks are working from the top down to create central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) that will enable bank regulators to do the same thing.
- Source, James Rickards
