Edward Snowden, a former CIA officer, has criticized central bank digital currencies (CBDC)s. In particular, he has called them the "latest danger looming over society."
Snowden believes CBDCs pervert the very nature of cryptocurrencies by depriving users of ownership of their money. He said:
"A CBDC is something closer to being a perversion of cryptocurrency, or at least of the founding principles and protocols of cryptocurrency—a cryptofascist currency, an evil twin entered into the ledgers on Opposite Day, expressly designed to deny its users the basic ownership of their money and to install the State at the mediating center of every transaction."
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According to Snowden, in the future, national digital currencies may be used to control citizens' money.
As an example, Snowden has mentioned a situation in which a doctor orders a patient to limit his sugar intake. The insurance company serving the patient could share this information with the CBDC control structure to mitigate its risks. As a result, if the patient wants to purchase chocolate, the payment will not be made.