Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) are permeating the mainstream narrative lately as United States politicians rail against the concept. Now Bitcoin supporters are cheering after prominent public figures Joe Rogan and Post Malone trashed the idea of a “digital dollar.”
In a recent conversation with famed rapper Post Malone on the popular “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast, the duo discussed what they see as the threats that government-backed digital currencies pose to society at large.
Asked by Post Malone what he thinks of the prospect of a U.S. CBDC, Rogan responded, “No fucking way. No way, I think that’s checkmate. That’s game over.” Post Malone agreed with the sentiment.
The conversation veered into a dystopian outlook on society, with Rogan raising red flags regarding a possible social credit score that will be used to monitor and control behavior. Although the rapper reckons an all-encompassing tracking system “already exists,” for Rogan, the endgame is government control over people's own money.
“They would like to be able to strip you of your money,” Rogan said of the U.S. government, suggesting that this will help make sure people “comply.”
This compliance, according to Rogan—whose podcast has amassed billions of total episode downloads to date—will be driven by a fear of the government arbitrarily seizing people’s money.
“People won’t want everything they have worked for to be taken overnight instantly,” he said, emphasizing that this will leave people feeling “powerless” and “with nobody to call.”
Absent from the conversation was any mention of Bitcoin or cryptocurrency, but the back and forth by the two celebrities yielded largely positive reviews from crypto industry leaders and personalities, who broadly agree with the potential negative impacts of CBDCs.
Custodia Bank CEO Caitlin Long, who is already tossing up with the government, sees eye to eye with Rogan and Post Malone.
“I agree with both Joe Rogan and Post Malone,” she told Decrypt. “A CBDC would be the endgame because it would be the end of privacy and the end of property rights in financial assets.”
— Caitlin Long 🔑⚡️🟠 (@CaitlinLong_) August 9, 2023
For Sam Callahan, Bitcoin analyst at financial services company Swan, the conversation was welcome.
“It's encouraging to see a popular figure like Post Malone address this important issue on the country's largest podcast,” he told Decrypt, “signaling its penetration into the mainstream consciousness.”
That sentiment has been pushed into the mainstream by two U.S. presidential hopefuls of late, from both sides of the aisle—Ron DeSantis and Robert Kennedy Jr.
The latter claimed previously that Central Bank Digital Currencies are “instruments of control,” while DeSantis suggested that President Joe Biden is waging a “war on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency.”