Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) have emerged as a prominent topic in the financial world. They promise elevated stability, security, efficiency, and reduced corruption. Central banks, the International Monetary Fund, the World Economic Forum, and the World Bank tell us CBDCs are a panacea waiting to cure all that ails our financial system.

Unfortunately, those claims may not match reality, because there are two characteristics of CBDCs that their proponents don't often mention. First, they offer an eternal trail of data about how you're spending your money. Secondly, they are subject to "programmability," which means political leaders will have the ability to dictate whether you're even allowed to spend your money.

The data trail

As an electronic legal tender directly issued by central banks to your digital wallet, CBDCs will not be anonymous. The clients will have gone through identification processes matching the ones currently imposed by commercial banks. The design instances may vary in detail, but either commercial banks or the central bank or both will be privy to always knowing who holds the digitally issued fiat currency, how it is spent or transferred, to whom, and for which purpose. All this information will be stored on a central digital ledger operated by central banks.