Template Letter to Bank Re: Effect of CBDCs on My Financial Health

[NAME OF AUTHOR(S)]
[ADDRESS OF AUTHOR(S)]
[EMAIL ADDRESS OF AUTHOR(S)]
[TELEPHONE NUMBER OF AUTHOR(S)]

[Date]

George Bailey, Manager
Bailey Building & Loan
1234 Happy Lane
Bedford Falls, NY [Zip Code]

      Re:       Mary and John Smith
                   Account No(s). _
                   [Other Bank Investments, e.g., CDs]

Dear George:

I/We are writing to ask your advice regarding my/our account(s) at Bailey Building & Loan in light of recent financial market revelations that have me/us concerned.

In particular, I/we are concerned by the President’s March 9, 2022 Executive Order on Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets (Executive Order 14067) outlining plans to convert the U.S. monetary system to central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and announcements by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York that its “innovation hub” is conducting CBDC prototyping with various major banking institutions—some of the same banking institutions that have been bailed out in the past and called “too big to fail.” I/We are strongly supportive of local banking and would like to know what I/we and your institution can do to stop this march toward a digital concentration camp. I/We also would be interested to know what information, if any, has been provided to your institution about future plans for the role of banks, savings & loans, and credit unions in the proposed new central bank digital system.

A White House summary of the Executive Order describes the CBDC proposal as the “first whole-of-government approach to addressing the risks and harnessing the potential benefits of digital assets and their underlying technology” and identifies six “key priorities”:

Consumer and investor protection
Financial stability
Countering of illicit finance
U.S. leadership in the global financial system and economic competitiveness
Financial inclusion
Responsible innovation

I/We do not understand what are the potential benefits to people like us of “harnessing the potential benefits of digital assets and their underlying technology.” Does this refer to strengthening the frightening grip of a “control grid” that already collects all manner of financial, family, spending, travel, medical, social media, and other private data in giant, unregulated databases maintained by big tech, members of the military-industrial complex, and others in order to control our future transactions and behavior and limit our financial autonomy?

It strikes me/us that creating a different, yet centrally controlled fiat currency that can be created from thin air and manipulated by unelected central bankers does not promote U.S. financial stability or provide citizens with consumer and investor protections—except in the sense that totalitarian governments can be financially stable through the power of taxation without representation and the ability to micromanage and regulate the spending of families and small enterprise. Nor does “innovation” seem to be a valid reason to throw out our existing freedoms to transact and replace them with a centrally controlled financial transaction system subject to international mandates and decisions. Managing “illicit finance,” in turn, would seem to be an excuse to justify interference with the transactions of the lawful, and to abolish and potentially seize cash, precious metals, and other stores of value subject to individual control.

Another and possibly related concern is the November 2022 bankruptcy filing by FTX and reported misdeeds of officials of the crypto exchange and some 130 affiliates involving the disappearance of billions or trillions of dollars of customer assets held in cryptocurrency form. The FTX debacle recalls the Enron and Madoff scandals. This follows the precipitous drop in Bitcoin (which currently is trading 70% below its high) and other cryptocurrency values, and the stories we are hearing about hacking of cryptocurrency and other essential digital records. Whether these developments constitute or will lead to a cryptocurrency “crash” remains to be seen, but the prospect of being forced to hold all of our financial assets in digital form—and particularly a digital form controlled by government or central banks—and being entirely dependent on unreliable digital information systems instead of on cash and bank deposits is frightening.

I/We have read and watched the links provided at the end of this letter and encourage you to review them, too, if you are interested in better understanding the basis for our concerns.

I/We remember the financial crisis in 2008, and it began like this—with problems at Bear Stearns. We trust Bailey Building & Loan, where we can receive prompt, in-person customer service, can see where the financial institution’s assets are invested, and can feel secure that the institution is working with local businesses and governments to reinvest in our community. I/We feel your bank is answerable to local community stakeholders and can be relied upon to make trustworthy management decisions and protect our investments.

I/We would like to know what I/we can do to support this and other community financial institutions and how, together with responsible financial institution leaders, we can take action to prevent the institution of central bank digital currencies, further encroachments on our freedom, and moves toward a virtual digital concentration camp, where individual and national sovereignty become a thing of the past.

[If desired, insert specific information about the particular situation and what the author’s individual fears or concerns are, e.g., how long the account(s) has/have been in existence, what other bank assets, like CDs, are held, etc., how reliant the account holders are upon their savings, how important the bank is to the local community]

I/We would like to make an appointment to meet with you in order to discuss my/our concerns and to determine what actions, if any, I/we should take to protect myself/ourselves financially and how we and our friends and neighbors can help. Please call to let me/us know a convenient time for such a meeting and any other information you can share to help me/us prepare. I/We would be pleased to organize a group information-sharing event at the bank at a time convenient for you.

Thank you for your consideration and interest.

Very truly yours,

John and Mary Smith