CBDC Archives – Milwaukee Community Journal
In a world where cash is no longer king, the implications for personal privacy and freedom are substantial. As the global economy shifts towards digital transactions, two major players are at the forefront of this movement: President Trump’s economic policies and Elon Musk’s data empire.
As the physical dollar fades, major institutions warn of who will be left behind. Brookings predicted years ago that cash will soon be obsolete, with digital currencies becoming the new norm. While central banks promote benefits like efficiency and transparency, they also introduce total traceability, enabling governments or corporations to freeze, restrict, or program how citizens spend money. J.P. Morgan and Loughborough University both note that a cashless system risks excluding the poor, the elderly, and the unbanked, groups disproportionately represented by Black and minority Americans. Digital payments must be designed with inclusion and convenience at their core, said Loughborough economist Markos Zachariadis, warning that without oversight, we risk leaving vulnerable groups excluded. In the United States, those same groups are already being priced out of basic participation in the economy as Trump’s tariffs, inflation, and anti-worker policies strip away safety nets like Medicaid and food assistance.
For Black America, the stakes are especially high. The march toward a cashless economy threatens to replicate the structural inequalities of the old banking system under the guise of innovation. Access to digital money will depend on data verification, credit history, and digital ID compliance, areas where Black Americans have historically faced discrimination and surveillance. With tech billionaires like Musk controlling the digital rails, privacy and autonomy may soon become luxuries reserved for the elite. As Global Finance observed, nations like Sweden are reassessing their nearly cashless economies after realizing that wars, natural disasters, and crises reveal vulnerabilities in fully digital systems. In America, those vulnerabilities may soon look like total control, where the same administration that tanked the economy gains the power to decide how and where citizens can spend what little they have left. In the end, Trump’s version of economic freedom is not about liberty. It is about ownership of currency, of data, and of people. If this cashless, crypto-fueled dystopia becomes reality, Black America and the poor will once again be first in line to pay the price.
Representative Rashida Tlaib referred to the topic of digital currency in a press release on September 26 as more than just a conversation about convenience or financial stability. She stressed that at the heart of the issue are deep questions about power and control and noted the threat that cashless transition poses to marginalized communities, particularly fintech-desert areas like Detroit.
Systems That Failed to Account For the Unbanked
Back in 2015, the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances reported that over 7% of American households—9 million individuals—were unbanked. Tens of millions more were underbanked, which means they might have a bank account but still rely on costly alternative financial services like money orders or check-cashing.
Without a bank account or emergency savings, the working poor can’t weather unexpected downturns and may have difficulties with credit building.
