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Does the CMA not have the authority to fine such companies for violations? If it does not, then the situation will never improve. I suggest looking at the US' Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB)  - setup during the Obama administration - as an example of some good work they are performing. According to their websites, they were responsible for getting $20B returned to consumers of the life of the agency (probably around 10 years now).

About time government agencies took responsibility for protecting consumers. Rohit Chopra of the US's Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and Nikhil Rathi (FCA's CEO) appear to be a breed apart from agencies that are captive to corporations and their lobbyists - they are, hopefully, the vanguard of the kind of government consumers dream of.

And, we are to believe that the US is NOT tracking individual electronic transactions currently (through ACH, card networks, etc.)?

IMO, the US is in danger of falling significantly behind as China, India, the EU and other Asian countries interlink their own CBDC. Once they start denominating their (smaller) transactions using other digital currencies, it will snowball and there will be no turning back. By then, the US CBDC will be too late.

In any country with an authoritarian government/head, there are no protections; so it is futile to discuss this in that context.

In democratic countries, where laws can be established apriori, a set of controls can be established to prevent such failures. However, it is important to remember that not all anomalies can be recognized and addressed apriori. Diligent policymakers will continue to reinforce those protections regularly and fill gaps when identified and where necessary. Witness what the EU is doing with its laws: GDPR, PSD, DMA, etc.

It still needs to be said, that unless consumers/citizens vote with their wallets/votes, even lawmakers and laws can be subverted. Caveat Emptor!

If voters accept initiatives that must be completed in one election cycle, then they will get the government and life they deserve, Ketharaman. Some of humankind's greatest accomplishments far outlived the innovators' lifetimes - for which all of us should be grateful. Thanks for your thoughts.

@Ketharaman,

I do agree with The Atlantic Council that the US is in serious danger of falling behind the EU, China and India. I agree there are lots of policy, procedural and technological issues with the introduction of CBDCs, but I also see a lot of benefits (with the advantage that we know how businesses and consumers will behave in the post-internet era).

I will encourage you to read this blog-post on LI from 2022: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/let-federal-reserve-introduce-cbdc-arshad-noor/ for a perspective on potential benefits.

There are more detailed comments I have provided to the Federal Reserve, starting on page 3 of this PDF: https://www.federalreserve.gov/files/cbdc-public-comments-9-20220624.pdf

Happy to continue this discussion here or on LI.

It does not. Tokenisation is just another method to lure in susceptible consumers into a market, where they can be convinced they are getting in into something akin to Bitcoin.

Blockchain has only one benefit that traditional cryptography does not offer: the ability to chain blocks into an indelible trail (assuming all other implementation details are secure and trustworthy). Bitcoin was merely the creator's "honeypot" to get susceptible people to participate into his/her scheme. Given that so many people appear to want to evade the oversight of law, it isn't surprising that Bitcoin still retains value. But, to conflate that value onto tokens of legitimate assets under the full scrutiny of law is silly; it just goes to prove that there are always some people who can be fooled all the time.

What is NCR, @Ketharaman? The company? Or, some particular agency or site? Thanks.

@Ketharaman,

Do you have a list of the 40 countries where A2A RTP is currently operational? Thank you.

Arshad

It supports FIDO registration and authentication. To announce a brand new site and to support FIDO strong authentication from Day 1 is a notable achievement. Kudos to the EU Digital Finance Platform team for their foresight.