The European Union is set to limit cash transactions amidst the highest inflationary period in recent history. On Nov. 6 the bloc took aim at ordinary people, setting a limit of €10,000 on cash payments and exerting oversight on crypto transactions of over 1,000.
Has the EU officially gone off the deep end?
The European Union Takes aim at ordinary citizens
The EU bloc has agreed on a set of new directives that will make cash transactions more difficult, erroneously associating physical cash transactions with criminal intention despite it being legal tender. On Nov. 6th, the bloc agreed on a new limit for cash payments that will allow up to €10,000 ($10,557) in countries that are part of the union. However, countries will be allowed to restrict the limit even more.
Currently, Spain has one of the lowest limits in this regard, allowing citizens to only pay up to €1,000 with cash. At the time the ECB disagreed with the move (2018), with the institution qualifying the measure as “disproportionate” as it could limit the usage of cash as an effective legal tender. The question is: what changed?
Per a press release on Dec. 7th, Europe is in the midst of prototyping a Central Bank Digital Currency. By definition, a CBDC will open direct access to manipulate citizens in order to create desired market outcomes. If an institution turns rogue, then there is nothing holding back operators from placing limits on personal consumption of goods and services, accessing cash, or spending normally. This happens in communist China, and Europe is seeking to replicate that system, per its own press releases.
This is absolutely tyrannical. The EU is trying to outlaw any cash transaction over €10,000—which at the current rate of inflation will probably buy you half a shawarma in a decade.
They’re claiming this is to protect you. To protect you!https://t.co/EXndwqs4ab
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) December 10, 2022
It’s not just cash payments that will be affected by this new round of tyrannical measures. Other sectors including jewellery and goldsmithing will also face heightened control from the central bank.
Zbynek Stanjura, minister of finance of the Czech Republic, stated:
Cash payments of more than 10,000 euros will be impossible. Remaining anonymous when buying or selling crypto assets will be much more difficult. Hiding behind several layers of corporate ownership will no longer work. It will be even more difficult to launder dirty money with jewellery or goldsmithing.
The bloc will also introduce a new country system classification that will reflect the level of compliance of each one with Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations, including grey and black lists.
Crypto included; time to accept direct Bitcoin payments?
As Stanjur stated, cryptocurrencies will also be included as part of this set of measures. The union agreed that crypto transactions moving over €1,000 in value will face due diligence inquiries by the virtual asset service providers (VASPs) facilitating them.
Also, the European Union will subject VASPs to the same level of anti-money laundering and terrorism financing scrutiny that other financial institutions already face. These exchanges and custody providers would need to introduce risk mitigation elements when dealing with self-hosted wallets, and other specific measures directed to control cross-border payments using cryptocurrency.
In other words, the European Union is slowly pigeon-holing its citizens into a surveillance-based monetary regime where physical cash transactions are a thing of the past. The EU is going after cash, and by extension your rights to use good money. The bloc has gone beyond its mandate, opening the door to a China-style social credit system where people are not allowed to access public transport.
Good money is censorship resistant, fungible and limited. Physical cash has two of these three attributes (as it is unlimited). With online payments, there is a middle man such as Revolut. This works in functioning democracies which have a separation of power, the rule of law and the timeless option to use cash. But in an increasingly cashless society, these three attributes of good money are effectively removed unless the world at large chooses truly public money which preserves these qualities i.e. Bitcoin and Litecoin.
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