Transcript of Jennifer Ewing’s talk from 12 October 2023

As important as Freedom of Speech is – and I am an absolutist – I would argue that in many ways it is Freedom of Transaction that underpins all of our other freedoms. Because without the capacity to buy and sell it becomes extremely difficult to exercise our other rights, even if we technically still possess them.
Over the last three and half years, there has been a worrying development in western liberal democracies. When covid began to appear, governments in so-called free countries used it as an excuse to assume control over our lives and trample on many of our liberties.

Everything from Freedom of Assembly to Freedom of Worship was under threat. As was Freedom of Speech – especially if one was thought to be spreading “misinformation”. As for Freedom of Transaction? Cash, the only option of payment for many, was shunned as legal tender and treated as it though it was carrying the black plague.

Years later, while it might look as though things have gone back to normal, we have to ask: have they really?
In February 2022, the Canadian Truckers and their supporters had their bank accounts frozen by “liberal” PM Justin Trudeau. Later that year Toby Young’s Free Speech Union account was frozen by Pay Pal. In July of this year, Nigel Farage was told by Coutts they would stop doing business with him. All over western liberal democracies, individuals and businesses are beginning to get de-banked for wrong think.

And for those people who don’t have a problem with Nigel Farage being de-banked because they don’t like his views on Brexit, keep in mind that in July 2023 at the same this was happening to him, the well-known anti-Brexit campaigner Gina Miller was told by Monzo Bank that her True & Fair party’s account would be closed. As Ms Miller pointed out at the time, if we do not have a way for new political parties to have banking services, do we actually have a functioning democracy?

The Centre for Digital Assets and Democracy is a non-partisan think tank that was built on the principle that everybody should own and control their own assets, with the state and its agencies acting as directly accountable public servants whose role is to enable.

We say non-partisan as we do not feel that statement is in any way political or controversial.
Here in the UK, we are incredibly lucky to have one of the most vibrant digital asset scenes in the world. If one was so inclined one could attend a conference or event any day of the week on anything from cryptocurrency to Web 3 to NFTs to custody services to regulation. It is all being created and built right here in the UK. And many of those brilliant minds doing the creating and building are with us here in the room tonight.

Also happening in the UK – and other places around the world – are conferences and events about programmable Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). It was at one of these CBDC events for The Digital Pound earlier this year that Claire and I realised something was off. The CBDC panel had just finished their talks and begun Q&A. I immediately raised my hand and asked the gentlemen from the Bank of England how one’s privacy would be protected under these programmable CBDCs. He explained to me that I had “nothing to worry about” and that UK Government had “no interest” in my privacy. I responded that with all due respect, after the last few years of authoritarian overreach by the UK Government he would have to forgive me for insisting on a bit more assurance than his word. A woman on the panel, who claimed to be a “go-between” between members of Parliament and the “man on the street”, assured me that no one she had spoken to had voiced any concerns about privacy.

Did this woman exist in an echo-chamber? Was she suffering from cognitive bias? I don’t know. All I do know is had she attended one of the many Bitcoin conferences going on around the world, she would have seen that privacy issues surrounding CBDCs are such an important issue that several of candidates running for President of the United States in 2024 have made it part of their platform.

Candidates such as Bobby Kennedy Junior, Vivek Ramaswamy and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis have all said they will ban programmable CBDCs if they are elected. They see the value of a de-centralised off-ramp like Bitcoin. Many believe de-centralisation will become another politicised Left vs Right, Democrat vs Republican, Authoritarian vs Libertarian issue. Let’s hope not.

It is not only The Centre for Digital Assets and Democracy who don’t see it that way, it is the next generation – “Next Gen”/ “Gen Z” – which also agrees that they should be able to own and control their own assets. And it is with that that I hand over to our next speaker Phillippa.