WHEN PERSONAL FREEDOM IS STOLEN

Digital banking risk management is a hot topic in the financial sector. Fintech and the accelerating transition to a cashless economy present risks the average citizen cannot imagine let alone evaluate responsibly.

Consider the Bangladesh Bank cyber heist of 2016, and imagine how much more criminals have learned since then. When targets are spread across the entire global economy, spanning everything from consumers to central banks, the likelihood that someone’s money will eventually disappear with a keystroke is beyond certainty, it is now built into the system. Cash is becoming illiquid in many nations.

But the greater danger looming takes another form. Sovereign ownership is being steadily transferred from ordinary individuals to the state and its corporate minions.

Owe back taxes? No, actually you don’t because the state has already seized your funds electronically. Bought a pack of cigarettes yesterday? Your health insurance premium went up three seconds after the purchase and the additional money has already been credited to your insurer. Your future debt to the state will be known to the penny and calculated on the day of your birth.

A cashless society is the handmaiden of socialism and an essential component in the progressive demise of individual sovereignty. In short, the risk to the individual is far greater than a mere theft of assets, it is your soul they are after. Personal freedom and the unfettered pursuit of happiness will have been stolen like a magician pulls a rabbit out of a hat.

Michael Setter Bang Saray