ST PETER PORT, Guernsey and NEW YORK, Oct. 25, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Currently, discussions, workgroups, task forces and a wide array of organizations worldwide are discussing and working on the creation of either Globally Valid Digital Currencies or CBDCs. These entities have been having these discussions for almost 10 years now – without any concrete result or action resulting from them.
This is because other than a relatively modest group who understand these matters in their entirety, there are four other categories of experts engaged in these discussions, which can be loosely categorized as follows:
- Persons highly qualified and experienced in Economics and Finance – but who lack the corresponding Technology & IT, Political & Geopolitical qualifications, and experience. They think their aims can be achieved because they do not realize the nature and scope of the Technology & IT, and Political & Geopolitical hurdles to be traversed.
- Persons highly qualified and experienced in Technology and IT – but who lack the corresponding Economic & Financial, Political & Geopolitical qualifications and experience. They think their aims can be achieved because they do not realize the nature and scope of the Economic & Financial and Political & Geopolitical hurdles to be traversed.
- Persons highly qualified and experienced in Politics and Geopolitics – but who lack the corresponding Technology & IT and Economic & Financial qualifications and experience. They think their aims can be achieved because they do not realize the nature and scope of the Technology & IT and Economic & Financial hurdles to be traversed.
- Persons who are highly qualified and experienced in raising or lending funds. They may not have experience or qualifications in any other arena, and may not know or care whether Globally Valid Digital Currencies or CBDCs are practical or achievable. Their focus is only on making money from the funds they raise for, or lend to, these groups. They will happily continue to raise funds or lend funds – on top of the USD Hundreds of Billions already spent on these matters to date – for as long as the multitude of entities continuing with their working-groups / task forces want to continue to talk, and plan, without reaching any conclusions or results.
This is why despite nearly a decade of talking, many of the most basic and entry-level considerations in these matters have not yet been addressed. Perhaps if they were, resolution on how – or if – to proceed could move past the working-group / task force talking phase and on to action. Some of the matters that should be addressed include the following:
Suitability of Cryptocurrencies for a Globally Valid Digital Currency or CBDC
Cryptocurrencies are:
- Speculative Retail Commodities – not currencies or generally-accepted Mediums of Exchange,
- That rely solely on the permanent application of Artificial Scarcity to maintain value – and raising the number of their “coins” from the Artificially Limited 30 to 50 million to the thousands of Trillions required for global transactions in all markets will collapse their speculative value,
- That have no underlying value other than being a Speculative Commodity in, and of, themselves (i.e., they are not backed by money or gold),
- That have fluctuating values, so there is a complete absence of stable value – the absolute and unalterable prerequisite for any medium of exchange,
- That cannot be used for digital transactions by the 50% of mobile phones in use in the world that are Pre-Smart Phones, because Mobile Apps cannot function on those Phones (Mobile Phones and Mobile Data being the only source of internet access for 50%+ of the world’s population),
- That cannot be used in the 60% of countries worldwide where mobile data is so slow and expensive it would use people’s entire month’s mobile data allowance for one transaction.
Cryptocurrencies have their own markets and uses, and the entities in those markets have spent a great deal of time and energy to develop them to be fit for their purpose. Their purpose is to facilitate trading in Speculative Retail Commodities, which have fluctuating values, derived from the maintenance of Artificial Scarcity, combined with methods to stimulate Artificial Demand. Their purpose is not – and cannot be – to act as Globally Valid Mediums of Exchange in global economic and financial transactions or markets.
Practicality of Retail CBDCs – At the Top-Level
The vast majority of Central Bank-issued money is already Digital Currency – and has been for decades. There is nothing to be developed here – in terms of product, system, or distribution flows between from Central Banks to Central Banks, Central Banks to Commercial Banks, or IMF to Central Banks (for SDRs). They all work. What seems to be being discussed (although this has also not yet been clearly articulated – after nearly 10 years) is a “Retail CBDC”, entailing Central Banks’ disintermediation of Commercial Banks to transact directly with the public. In this case:
- What will replace the Commercial Bank System – that will definitely fail if Central Banks usurp its primary source of revenue? It needs replacement for the public to have venues and personnel to transact with.
- How – from legal, practical, cost and time perspectives – will Central Banks be able to replicate the Commercial Bank system? Nationalization of the Commercial Banks would be the only option, but that is hardly likely to occur.
- Where will the credit extended to the public be recorded if Central Banks take over this role from Commercial Banks? Will this private debt be recorded as part of the National Debt? How would this huge addition to National Debt affect the stability of the national currency, inflation, global trade in that currency, etc.?
- Would the Central Bank be liable in potential lawsuits brought by the public? If yes, what would the consequences to the Country, National Currency or the Central Bank be if it lost such lawsuits?
Neither the purpose of Central Banks transacting directly with the public nor the practical, legal nor any other ramifications of taking such a step have ever been able to be clearly articulated. Quite apart from lowering transaction costs to the public, it will raise them – exponentially. The Vice Chair for Supervision of the Federal Reserve System – Randal K. Quarles – gave a speech on these matters previously. His points were clear and inescapable, and it is well worth considering them. A copy of his speech is in the “Resources” section of this article.
Blockchain and Distributed Ledger
Both of these processes – either singly or in combination – are touted as “new” developments or developments that will alter the landscape or enable things to be done now that were not possible before. None of these assumptions are valid. Firstly, many companies already have these processes functional in their systems – they just call them by different names (definitions of each are in the “Resources” section of this article). They are not “new” processes. Secondly, these processes alone are neither enough – nor sufficient, by far – to enable or bring create Globally Valid Digital Currencies. For example, WM’s system has Blockchain ++. That means, specifically, Blockchain + 18 additional Blockchain Processes per transaction + Failsafe (Blockchain processes on ITAN Numbers + Currencies + TUV Serial Numbers + Countries + Mobile Numbers + Transaction Types + Transaction Amounts + Transaction Reference numbers + Usernames + Independent Agents X 3 levels + VSMPs X 2 levels + Dates + Times of Day + Consolidation of all. Failsafe is an additional Blockchain Record maintained by the Artificial Intelligence Agent called HAL). It is the most comprehensive Blockchain system that exists – but alone – or even in combination with Distributed Ledger, it is not enough – very by far – for either a functioning Globally Valid Digital Currency or a Global Clearing System. Similarly, WM has Distributed Ledger++. That means, specifically, Distributed Ledger + 7 additional Distributed Ledger records of the same transaction + Failsafe (Distributed Ledger records on all Independent Agent Consoles X 3 levels + all VSMP Consoles X 2 levels + in all participating Member Accounts in “History”. Failsafe is an additional Distributed Ledger maintained by the Artificial Intelligence Agent called HAL). This is why WM was able to create a Programmable Currency (“Smart TUV”) – because all parties to the transaction can not only jointly see the data, they can independently monitor it, approve it, and program it (as well as it being independently monitored). These attributes and processes alone – or in conjunction – do not, however, even scratch the surface of requirements for a Globally valid Digital Currency or Clearing system. There are thousands of requirements for such a product and system – not just two.
Requirement for a Global Clearing System
One cannot simply create a Globally Valid Digital Currency or CBDC in isolation. To do that would be like creating a motor vehicle that runs on air, does not break, can last forever, and can have shape or color modified whenever one wants to – but creating it so that it can only function in a small patch of open space in the Amazon jungle, and it will break if it leaves it. Nice car – but useless outside its small patch. This is what any Global Digital Currency and/or any CBDC is – without a Global Clearing System. The same applies to a Digital Currency or CBDC that has no Global Exchange or Clearing System for the free and open storage of, transfer to, receipt from, exchange of, conversion of, settlement or redemption of the Digital Currency. All the time and money in the world can be spent on creating any type of Global Digital Currency or CBDC, but without the Global Clearing System, every one of them will be utterly useless outside its own small patch. Moreover, the Global Digital Currency and/or CBDC must be created to function in harmony with the Global Clearing System – otherwise it will not function, at all, within that environment. This, naturally, means the Global Clearing System has to be created before the Global Digital Currency or CBDC is created. To create such a Global Clearing System for CBDCs will require multilateral political consensus globally – not the solving of economic or technological requirements. This is because Central Banks’ issuing of National Currencies is at play – which is a matter of strategic national security for all countries. A Global Clearing System for CBDCs between Central Banks will require sharing of sensitive national financial and economic information – which requires countries to disclose their monetary policy and secrets that go hand-in-hand with that. When countries such as the USA and China, Russia and Ukraine, Israel and Palestine, the UK and Argentina, Greece and Turkey and multiple other countries that have historical or ongoing issues between them are prepared to disclose their economic secrets to each other, a Global Exchange Mechanism for CBDCs could be created. It may require a long wait for this to happen. For a Global Clearing System for a Globally Valid Digital Currency to be created – outside CBDCs / Central Banks, there are tens of thousands of economic, financial, legal, regulatory, structural, process, component and other requirements that need to be satisfactorily addressed. This can be done (WM has done it), but it requires many years of focused and steady work, and then many more years of testing and refinement. Nevertheless, it can be done.
What Entities can most realistically create Globally Valid Digital Currencies?
The only entities capable of doing this in the foreseeable future – as a fact – are Telecommunications companies. Even current Legacy Systems for all Transfers, Payments, Settlement, and all other transactions run on Telecommunications rails. SWIFT – and the entities that run off its rails including the IBAN system, China’s CIPS system, the USA’s Fedwire and all others – are all Telecommunications systems. That is why SWIFT – and all entities that run on its rails – are in the Telecommunications sector (and have been since the inception of “Wire Transfers” – via Telegraph Wires). WM – a Global Telephony Company – has already successfully created a tested, proven, due diligenced and fully-operational worldwide Digital Currency (the TUV) and Global Clearing System. It would not have been able to do so had it not been for the structural, process, logistical, interconnectivity, regulatory and (many) other factors inherent within the global telephony sector. Telecommunications Companies already have at least 50% of the required products, processes, flows, components, infrastructure, and global connectivity fully functional in their existing systems, and are able to do this from regulatory and legal perspectives. There would still be 50%+ to create, and significant restructuring of existing facilities – as well as creation of Artificial Intelligence Complex Adaptive Systems to make it feasible and enable dual-use of their Telephony Facilities. It will take enormous amounts of time, money, and resources – and several years of work – to complete this restructuring, but it would be worthwhile to do this.
Why it is worthwhile to go to the trouble of Creating a Global Digital Currency and Clearing System
In the recent past, various expert commentators have provided their views on the potential advantages a Globally Valid and Multicurrency Digital Currency could bring about. Two of these commentaries – one from the World Economic Forum and one from the Forbes Financial Council – are attached in the “Resources” section of this article, and are well worth reading. Every single one of their prescient predictions is valid and 100% correct. However, those predictions – as seemingly exceptional as they are – do not even begin to describe, even remotely, the extraordinary and unprecedented breadth and scope – and the astounding market opportunities and scale of market opportunities, unprecedented in Economic, Financial, Business, or Commercial history – that are opened up to any entity that achieves this goal. As WM has achieved this goal, and it is already in the position to enter into every market – from basic to sophisticated, and from the smallest to the largest transactions in the world, with unmatchable value-propositions – it can state this as a matter of fact, not as a view or opinion based upon a future but as-yet unrealized aspiration. The markets, market volumes and market values – worldwide – that are available once an entity develops – in reality – a fully functioning Globally Valid, Distributable, Accessible, Recognizable, Convertible, Transactable, Transferable, Redeemable, Stable Store of Value and Medium of Exchange – that has the utility of cash and the security and convenience of Digital Currency – make virtually any effort worthwhile.
This is because the Market Scope, Volumes and Values that then become available to the company possessing the Globally Valid Digital Currency and Global Clearing System – as WM does – are so vast in size (cumulatively in excess of USD 25 Trillion+ per day), that they are literally unmatched and unmatchable, by factors and by degrees of magnitude, by any and every single other form of business in the world.
Resources:
Media Contact:
Nick Lambert: wm@thoburns.com
5 Ways Digital Currencies will Change the World – World Economic Forum:
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/01/5-ways-digital-currencies-will-change-the-world/
Eight Ways Digital Currencies will Change the Financial Landscape – Forbes Financial Council:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesfinancecouncil/2017/08/25/eight-ways-digital-currencies-will-change-the-financial-landscape/?sh=77e3628b2304
Speech on CBDCs by the Federal Reserve System’s Vice Chair for Supervision, Randal K. Quarles:
https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/quarles20210628a.htm
Comments on the WM System’s Capacities by Professor Jan Kregel of the Levy Economics Institute:
https://youtu.be/XYBrCikUhn8
Research Papers on WM’s Global Clearing System and TUV Digital Currency:
- Another Bretton Woods Reform Moment: Let us Look Seriously at the Clearing Union
http://www.levyinstitute.org/pubs/ppb_154.pdf
- Keynes’s Clearing Union is Alive and Well and Living in your Mobile Phone
http://www.levyinstitute.org/pubs/pn_21_1.pdf
- Money and Credit: Potential Expansion of the WM System
https://webtel.mobi/media/info/money-and-credit-potential-expansion-of-the-wm-system-april-2021.pdf
- New Dimensions for the TUV in the Webtel.mobi System
https://webtel.mobi/media/info/new-dimensions-for-the-tuv-in-the-webtelmobi-system.pdf
- The Economic Problem: From Barter to Commodity Money to Electronic Money
https://www.levyinstitute.org/pubs/wp_982.pdf
Media Articles on WM:
https://webtel.mobi/info/current-media/
Characteristics of WM’s TUV Digital Currency:
https://webtel.mobi/info/tuv-characteristics
WM’s urls:
https://webtel.mobi/pc (Tablets / Laptops / Desktops)
https://webtel.mobi (Smart Phones)
https://webtel.mobi/wap (Pre-Smart Mobile Phones)
Definition of “Blockchain”:
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/blockchain.asp
Definition of “Distributed Ledger”:
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/distributed-ledgers.asp
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d34f371e-0e03-4782-9983-d85bb13b7298
The photo is also available at Newscom, www.newscom.com, and via AP PhotoExpress.
