Earlier this year, President Joe Biden signed Executive Order 14067, which was purportedly aimed at “Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets.”
The executive order has led some to fear that the administration is waging a secret war on paper money.
Some fear move is aimed at forcing Americans to be vaccinated
Among those sounding the alarm is lawyer, economist, and investment banker Jim Rickards. Breitbart quoted him as saying that the move represents “a major upheaval” for American currency.
“Executive Order 14067 already gives President Biden unprecedented power over the future of the U.S. dollar,” Rickards declared. “And sadly, most Americans will be completely caught off guard by it.”
Rickards is not alone in predicting that the Biden White House is attempting to exert greater control on the population, as some social media users have argued so as well.
VERY SCARY Biden Executive order 14067 this Dec. allows the Feds to control what you can spend your money on via a Central Bank Digital currency (CBDC). Currency will be phased out. They can even block your purchases if you refuse future vacs. A plan to control the masses.
— Jeanie M 🇺🇸@45returns (@jeanie282) August 20, 2022
Yet according to Megan Loe, such predictions about Executive Order 14067 are overblown. Loe is a contributor at Pennsylvania’s Fox 43, and in a piece published last month, she responded to a reader’s question about what is at stake.
Expert denies that there are any plans to do away with paper money
“Under Executive Order 14067, the Federal Reserve is tasked with looking into how a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) might be created, and evaluating necessary steps and requirements for implementing one,” she wrote.
“The federal government hasn’t made any decisions yet about issuing U.S. CBDC as a result of the executive order, but creating one wouldn’t mean that the government is getting rid of cash,” she continued.
“The Federal Reserve also says on its website that it is ‘considering a CBDC as a means to expand safe payment options, not to reduce or replace them,” Loe went on.
Loe spoke with Aaron Klein, who focuses on financial technology and regulation at the Brookings Institution. He told her that “[t]here is nothing in the executive order that ends or eliminates cash. Period.”
Still, even Klien acknowledged that much remains unknow, such as whether consumers will “get direct accounts at the Federal Reserve.” He admitted that this could lead to “potential privacy issues” since “digital transactions can be less anonymous than cash.”