While the United States has turned away from the concept of a retail central bank digital currency (CBDC), other jurisdictions, such as Europe and China, have embraced it. As has been reported, a digital Euro is in the works with the European Central Bank (ECB) targeting a potential rollout for mid-2029. China has already been testing a digital Yuan live and in the wild.
However, while some European policymakers view a CBDC as beneficial for the European Union (EU) and its citizens, some are expressing concerns about the potential for abuse, including privacy concerns and government intervention. While declarations of commitment not to abuse a digital Euro have been issued by public authorities, concerns persist as governments can change their minds, as the allure of insight and control is simply too strong to resist for a central authority.
On X, Wide Awake Media, an account with over 800,000 followers, has posted a dystopian video about a future where CBDCs are part of a government that seeks authoritarian control by controlling bank accounts and behavior, enabled by CBDCs and digital IDs. It is a scary presentation where a social score guides your existence.
A glimpse into the kind of nightmarish dystopian future we’re sleepwalking into if we ever allow digital ID, CBDCs, social credit scores and personal carbon allowances to get off the ground.pic.twitter.com/WFkg1pOXyh
— Wide Awake Media (@wideawake_media) October 3, 2025
Another commentator, @newstart_2024, who goes by the name Camus, with over 355,000 followers, shares an actual video from the World Economic Forum where the speaker discusses how central governments can use digital currency to guide behavior in an Orwellian example of social engineering. The speaker discusses CBDCs as a conduit for implementing economic policies.
They are no longer hiding their plans.
A WEF panelist just laid bare the true, dystopian purpose of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs).
He admits, on stage, that this isn’t about “convenience.” It’s about control.
Here’s what he’s really saying:
➡️ Your money will have… pic.twitter.com/prQ1rewoix
— Camus (@newstart_2024) October 3, 2025
Founded in 2023, Resist CBDC pitches its mission as being anti-communist, anti fascist, advocating for being a liberty maximalist. Resist CBDC, with 71,000 followers on X, states that a CBDC is a “global surveillance industrial complex.” The account attacks the “system of surveillance and control,” which is aided by a Digital ID and CBDC.
“The digital Euro is on the move”
Christine Lagarde – ECB
“All European intuitions will be involved to make sure that Europe is equipped with the currency of the future … cash and ‘digital cash’.”
October and the CBDC are here. Will you adopt – or will you resist? pic.twitter.com/kPfd5RFlAP
— Resist CBDC (@Resist_CBDC) October 6, 2025
Lagarde, President of the ECB, explains that European citizens will have the choice between cash and digital currency, and both will be easy to use. Lagarde sees the development of a digital Euro as strategically important to the EU. She recently expressed her frustration with the lack of progress on the digital Euro while stating that privately issued stablecoins may risk eroding the power of central banks. Lagarde commented on stablecoins that “I think it risks undermining our capacity to conduct monetary policy.”
Resist CBDC says that a “CBDC is not a ‘digital version of cash. It’s a permissioned coupon with purchase restrictions, travel limits, and an expiration date. Combined with Digital, ID becomes a Social Credit System.”
The account also quotes Klaus Schwab, former head of the World Economic Forum, who left the group following allegations of impropriety, as citing China as the model. The WEF has touted China’s development of a digital Yuan (e-CNY). The digital Yuan is said to have “controllable anonymity,” as a central bank can access transaction information for regulatory purposes or to deal with illicit activities (whatever that means). It has been noted that a digital Yuan can also be set to expire, thus leveraging it to drive stimulus or other economic objectives.
The US, with the enactment of the GENIUS Act, set out parameters for private issuers of “payment stablecoins.” These digital assets must hold one-to-one reserves in safe assets, such as US Treasuries. While not without risks of privacy breaches, this requirement creates an arms-length relationship with digital dollar issuers. A retail CBDC issued by the US Federal Reserve appears to be dead on arrival.
Several US states have taken it further; Florida, one of the fastest-growing state economies and the fastest-growing by population, has a law that bans CBDCs. In 2023, legislation was signed into law that prohibits the use of any federally issued CBDC within the state. The governor and the state legislature expressed concerns regarding government surveillance and control over financial transactions, which suited the liberty-minded population of Florida. Other states soon followed Florida’s example.
The widely popular Florida Governor Ron DeSantis recently commented on X that the UK’s push for a digital ID and potential for abuse is unraveling. There is an uproar in the UK over the issuance of a Digital ID, with a petition against the policy garnering over 2.8 million signatures, as both conservatives and some leftists slam the policy.
DeSantis stated:
“Telltale sign that the Digital ID push in the UK is backfiring… They want more control (and to layer a CBDC over it), and the people are rejecting it.”
This past week, the Bank of England softened its stance on stablecoins in response to public pressure and market-driven demand.
Meanwhile, large jurisdictions such as China and the European Union, along with several other countries including Russia, India, and Brazil, are moving forward with plans for a CBDC.