What Just Happened in Europe is Coming for Your Money in America

It's official, the digital euro is here. And with its arrival comes the promise for a future that will never be the same. In case you missed it this week, the European Central Bank, the ECB, has officially switched on PONTEZ, its new system for digital euro transactions between banks. To summarize it quickly for you, it's digital euro made available for banks so that they can transact amongst themselves using tokenized assets and distributed ledger technology. Now, a digital euro is, of course, a central bank digital currency, or CBDC, which is a fully programmable, trackable currency that is issued and operated by the central bank. Now, this launch is separate from a retail CBDC, or the type of digital currency that everyday citizens would be using. But make no mistake, this is very clearly a big step forward in widespread adoption. But don't just take my word for it. No, you can listen to ECB President Christine Lagarde in her own words tell you what's coming next. We very much hope that the piece of legislation that is currently under debate concerning the digital euro will see its completion and finalization before the end of this year, and the earlier, the better. Now, that was about as clear as it gets. But for anyone out there who is still thinking this is just a Europe problem, remember, Christine Lagarde is one of the most powerful women in the world. And she wasn't always the ECB President. Before that, she was the director for the IMF, the International Monetary Fund, which is one of those institutions all the way up at the very top steering the global monetary system. Now, it's no secret that the IMF has long been pushing the CBDC agenda. In fact, they've gone as far as creating formal strategies for all of their member countries, encouraging all nations to adopt a CBDC. And Christine Lagarde, well, she transitioned to ECB President at the end of 2019, and ever since has been spearheading Europe's CBDC playbook. And don't worry, we're going to talk about what this means for those of us in the US. But before we do, it's important to understand that a CBDC is not the same as the digital dollars that you see when you log onto your account today. I get this question from clients all the time. A CBDC is issued directly by the central bank. So it is a separate currency from the one we are using today. And the most important part to understand is that it is fully programmable and trackable, meaning that there could be automated rules around your purchases. Things like where it can be used, how it can be used, who and what can use it as well as tracking in a way that does not exist today. And to that point, I've also had clients say, well, don't they know everything I'm doing today? Which, yes, to some extent, but right now your financial life is fragmented across different banks, credit cards, payment processors. So yes, if the authorities wanted to understand your financial history, they absolutely could get it, but it's going to take some time and resources in order to gather that information. Whereas with a CBDC, everything you do would exist on one unified ledger. And on that centralized ledger, the movement of the currency itself would create a digital record. We're talking about total control, no privacy, the ability to push one button or have an automated AI system decide when your accounts are shut off and what control and access you have to your money. So the obvious question becomes, how long until this arrives in the US and what can you do to prepare? In order to answer that, what we can do is we can look at Europe as a roadmap. So as I mentioned earlier, this week the ECB has officially launched PONTES, which you can think of like the plumbing of our financial system. On the top layer, there's your debit card, there's credit cards, mortgages, your bank account, it's everything that you interact with. But underneath that top layer, that's the plumbing of the financial system. That's picturing banks sending money to each other, collateral moving around, transactions being settled. PONTES is changing that plumbing. And what they're doing is they're taking assets, assets you might already own, like stocks, bonds, real estate, and creating digital tokens that represent those assets and they can now move on these new digital financial rails. It gets complicated really quickly, but imagine the financial system we have today with all of its components, taking all of that and putting it on a new financial infrastructure where everything's connected and automated. That's what went live this week. It's the rails that the digital euro can use to settle transactions. But you might be thinking, okay, enough about all of that, why do I care? Well, the ECB is calling this their first step in a strategy to tokenize finance. Yes, technically this week's launch is separate from a retail CBDC, or as I mentioned earlier, the type of central bank digital currency that everyday citizens would be using. But make no mistake, that bottom layer that's live today is being put in place so that the top layer, the digital euro, is ready to go for everyday citizens. We're talking again about a consolidation of power and control, a much bigger plan. As you heard Lagarde herself say today, the sooner, the better for that retail CBDC launch. And if you're still sitting here in the US wondering, well, what does this have to do with me? Get to the point. Let me ask you a question. Do you truly think that the United States of America is going to allow, and not just the US, right? But those all the way at the very top, pulling the strings. Do you think that the US is going to sit back while this technology exists and allow other nations to move forward with pursuing total control over the monetary system and specifically the savings and transactions of its people? Or do you think that the US is going to get in on the action? Because I can tell you one thing for sure, we don't have to speculate. The US is building its own version of the next financial system right now. Yes, the public facing messaging has been a CBDC freeze, right? Legally, the Federal Reserve cannot work on a CBDC until 2030, which is convenient timing, three years away, right? That's about the timeline we're seeing for the ECB to roll out their project here. But that aside, so a CBDC is frozen. But what if I told you that right now, a similar system of payment rails is being built through the private sector? It doesn't ring any alarm bells the same way, but it should. We have dollar stable coins and tokenized bank deposits that aren't just a thing in the future that are coming, but are actively being used right now. Europe is building the rails right now, that foundational layer, right? From within, from the central bank. The US is also building those rails, but they're doing it through private sector. So if you're in the US and you're waiting for an announcement of a CBDC, you're watching the wrong thing. Even though stable coins are not CBDCs, they can provide the same settlement functionality. And more importantly for you, they can also be programmed in the same way. One of the biggest fears I hear from our clients is about them closing the exits. Now, this is something that many people are already experiencing. If you go to your bank today and you try and take out cash, you get treated like you're a common criminal. You get all of the questions. You get grilled. What is it for, right? Sometimes people get denied for no reason at all, proving that it was never really your money, right? Even if you deposited it and you can see the numbers on the screen, if you wanna do something with it that they don't want, AKA taking it outside of the system, good luck. The same goes for sometimes when people try and buy physical gold and silver, right? Banks could be shutting the exits. What do you think is going to happen when we have a CBDC or a stable coin, whatever it might be, but a structure in place with programmable digital money where they can control what and how you spend. When that happens, good luck being able to convert your fiat currency into something of real value, into real money. Why would they ever let you do that? They don't want anyone escaping the system because it only hurts their end goal of a wealth transfer, which is why when I talk to people who are concerned about what's coming next with this total control, I always ask them, do you have your gold and silver? Do you have a plan in place you can execute on for what comes next? Now, if you're out there watching and you think I don't have that plan in place or I wanna make sure I have one, am I doing the right thing? You can always call us at the number below. We have a dedicated team of expert analysts that I work with every single day who not only understand these risks, but are passionate about helping people prepare for what comes next. They understand currency life cycles throughout history. And although this digital future might be new, the pattern that the dollar is following, the pattern of total control is not new. What you wanna make sure though, again, is that you're not trying to time this or waiting until things are too late. Because as we know, they can close the exits like that. And the last thing you want is to be kicking yourself, wishing you had taken action when. And I'll leave you with this. ITM Trading has been in business for over 30 years. We have protected billions for our clients because they trust us. When you call, again, you're speaking to someone who likely has years, if not decades of experience working in this system, studying these currency life cycles and resets and helping people prepare for what comes next. So I can promise you, you will be in good hands. And in the meantime, thank you so much for being here. I'm Taylor Kenney with ITM Trading, your trusted source. For all things gold, silver, and lifelong wealth protection. Until next time.