My guest today is Nick Anthony, a policy analyst at the Cato Institute, a fellow at HRF, and one of the clearest voices dissecting CBDCs, financial privacy, and government overreach. He authored the book “digital currency or digital control?” and advocates for freedom and privacy. In this episode, we explore how governments use propaganda to sell CBDCs as “digital cash,” despite public resistance, and how pilots in China and The Bahamas reveal low adoption and rising coercion. Nick explains why control is a universal temptation across democracies and autocracies, and how the Bank Secrecy Act created 55 years of normalized financial monitoring in the United States. We discuss the distinction between stablecoins and CBDCs, the slow global rollout of digital currencies, and why Bitcoin’s censorship resistance remains essential, alongside other freedom tech tools. He also shares insights from his work maintaining HRF’s CBDC Tracker, his visit to the European Parliament, and his warning that even if CBDCs fail, today’s financial system already operates as a surveillance regime.

► If you got value, please like, comment, share, follow and support my work. Thank you!

-- SPONSORS --

→ Get your TREZOR wallet & accessories, with a 5% discount, using my code at checkout (get my discount code from the episode - yep, you’ll have to watch it): https://affil.trezor.io/SHUn

→ Shield your bitcoin with time-delayed transactions over multisig with BitVault: https://bit.ly/bitvault_efrat 

→ Have you tried mining bitcoin? Stack sats directly to your wallet while saving on taxes with Abundant Mines: https://AbundantMines.com/Efrat 

– AFFILIATES –

→ Get 10% off on Augmented NAC, with the code YCXKQDK2 via this link: https://store.augmentednac.com/?via=efrat

(Note, this is not medical advice and you should consult your MD)

→ Watch “New Totalitarian Order” conference with Prof. Mattias Desmet & Efrat - code EFRAT for 10% off: https://efenigson.gumroad.com/l/desmet_efrat

→ Get a second citizenship and a plan B to relocate to another country with Expat Money, leave your details for a follow up: https://expatmoney.com/efrat

→ Join me in any of these upcoming events: https://www.efrat.blog/p/upcoming-events 

-- LINKS –

Nick’s Twitter: https://x.com/EconWithNick

Cato Institute Twitter: https://x.com/CatoInstitute

HRF’s CBDC Tracker: https://cbdctracker.hrf.org/home 

Efrat's Twitter: https://twitter.com/efenigson

Efrat's Channels: https://linktr.ee/efenigson

Watch/listen on all platforms: https://linktr.ee/yourethevoice

Support Efrat's work: ⁠https://www.buymeacoffee.com/efenigson   ⁠

Support Efrat with Bitcoin: https://geyser.fund/project/efenigson

-- CHAPTERS –

00:00 - Coming Up…

01:39 - Meet Nick Anthony: Policy Analyst & CBDC Critic

03:03 - What Problems CBDC Pretends to Solve?

04:48 - CBDCs: Problems and Propaganda

08:03 - Real-World Examples: China & The Bahamas

13:59 - Ad Break: Trezor, BitVault & Abundant Mines

16:39 - Stablecoins vs. CBDCs: A Critical Comparison

21:56 - The Future of CBDCs, And Bitcoin's Role

24:13 - Financial Privacy, Bitcoin and Cash

31:54 - Message to CBDC Legislators

33:08 - Nick’s Visit to the EU Parliament

35:08 - How To Explain Why We Need An Exit

36:53 - Wholesale vs. Retail CBDCs