While private crypto has scams, the true systemic risk is Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). Being programmable and centralized, they give governments the power to monitor, block, and control every citizen's transactions, creating an infrastructure for authoritarian control under the guise of progress.

China's central bank is flooding its market with liquidity not just for stimulus, but to bolster its financial system against capital flight through stablecoins. This defensive move aims to prevent citizens from bypassing capital controls, which the government perceives as a major threat to its monetary sovereignty.

The story of Vietnam freezing bank accounts isn't primarily a warning about digital IDs or CBDCs. It's a reminder of a more fundamental truth: the government holds a monopoly on violence. They don't need new technology to control your money; they can already take it by force if they choose.

While convenient, the decline of physical cash risks locking the economy into tech platforms and creating barriers for the unbanked. Cash represents an open, uncontrolled system whose loss has significant societal and class-based downsides, concentrating power in the hands of platform owners.

The Canadian government freezing the bank accounts of citizens for making legal donations to the Freedom Convoy protestors established a modern precedent. It demonstrated how a Western government can use financial infrastructure to suppress political dissent without trial or due process, foreshadowing the potential risks of centralized digital currencies.

Libra's failure was not technical. The U.S. government intentionally blocked it, recognizing stablecoins as a way to extend the dollar's global dominance. It refused to let a private company control this new financial power, especially with a multi-currency basket.

While Bitcoin has money-like properties (limited supply, perceived value), it has a critical flaw compared to physical gold. Governments can monitor all transactions on the blockchain and interfere with them. Gold is the only asset that an individual can hold that is free from this kind of control and surveillance.

Japan's approach is not an "either/or" choice between CBDCs and private stablecoins. It views a potential government-issued CBDC as the foundational public infrastructure upon which private companies can build innovative stablecoin-based financial products and services, fostering a dual-track digital economy.

Beyond a fintech innovation, USD stablecoins can be used by the US government as a tool of economic statecraft. They can direct foreign investment into strategic US sectors, create new demand for Treasury debt, and provide a mechanism to enforce sanctions by electronically controlling capital flows globally.