The leaders of the group of 20 nations have agreed to impose digital IDs and digital currencies on the world population.
The news comes despite significant pushback and concerns that governments will use digital currencies, such as CBDCs, to monitor people.
The G20 adopted a final declaration on the subject over the weekend in New Delhi.
Last week, the group announced it had agreed to build the necessary infrastructure to implement digital IDs and digital currencies.
However, critics warned that governments and central banks will eventually regulate cryptocurrencies before replacing them with central bank digital currencies (CBDC), giving them more control over the populace.
Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has already announced that they are preparing to build a global framework to regulate crypto assets, saying they believe that cryptocurrencies can’t be regulated without total international cooperation.
“India’s [G20] presidency has put on the table key issues related to regulating or understanding that there should be a framework for handling issues related to crypto assets,” Sitharaman said before the G20 gathering.
During the New Delhi summit, topics discussed included building digital public infrastructure, digital economy, crypto assets, and CBDCs.
The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) first deputy managing director, Gita Gopinath, said in a video posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the G20 “helped shape a global perspective on how policymakers should deal with crypto assets.”
Gopinath told Business Today there was “no talk of banning cryptocurrencies, indicating a global consensus against such measures” in the discussions.
However, critics warn that such proposals are a stepping stone for a social credit score system, which will monitor and control people and how they spend their money.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called for digital ID systems similar to COVID-19 vaccine passports and an international regulatory body for artificial intelligence (AI), The Epoch Times reported.
She also called for the UN to have an active role in AI regulation and called the European Union’s COVID-19 digital certificate a “perfect model” for the digital public infrastructures (DPI),
“Many of you are familiar with the COVID-19 digital certificate. The EU developed it for itself. The model was so functional and so trusted that 51 countries on four continents adopted it for free,” Von der Leyen said.
“Today, the WHO uses it as a global standard to facilitate mobility in times of health threats. I want to thank Dr. Tedros again for the excellent cooperation,” she said, referring to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Meanwhile, the European Union is trying to implement a “digital identity” app that would consolidate people’s personal information, including passports, driver’s licenses, and medical history into a digital ids.
“The future is digital. I passed two messages to the G20. We should establish a framework for safe, responsible AI, with a similar body as the [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] for climate. Digital public infrastructures are an accelerator of growth. They must be trusted, interoperable & open to all,” Von der Leyen wrote on social media.
However, many are pushing back against the digital IDs push.
According to the Cato Institute 2023 CBDC National Survey, just 16 percent of Americans support the adoption of a CBDC, while at least 68 percent said they would oppose CBDCs.
Earlier this year, Ted Cruz (R-Texas) introduced a new bill to prevent the Federal Reserve from central bank digital currency.
The legislation (S.887), co-sponsored by Sens. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), argues that CBDC would eventually be used as a government surveillance system.
“The federal government has no authority to unilaterally establish a central bank currency,” Cruz said.
Cruz noted that the bill “goes a long way in making sure big government doesn’t attempt to centralize or control cryptocurrency and allows it to thrive in the United States. We should be empowering entrepreneurs, enabling innovation, and increasing individual freedom — not stifling it.”
Meanwhile, some Democrats expressed concern that the government could control what people spend their money on.
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