Eliminating Cash And Checks To Eliminate ‘Fraud’ In Move Towards CBDC And Tokenization”.
What is the benefit being asked by someone like me not with excess skills in this area?
I find this a very interesting and at times troubling piece and I am asking your comments. Let us debate.
“Payments made to the Federal government, such as fees, fines, loans, and taxes, must also be processed electronically where permissible under existing law,” the executive order says.
Start here and let us debate and everything has implications, so what are these here? Is this a balanced report?:
‘While national headlines are focused on the latest now dubbed “Signalgate” drama after leaked messages from ranking White House officials discussing war plans, President Donald Trump quietly signed an executive order that modernizes the treasury department by eliminating traditional checks and money orders, going totally digital in what Trump claims is designed to clamp down on fraud and waste.
Trump signed two matching executive orders yesterday during a White House Cabinet room meeting. Trump said during the signing that this was something Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wanted, adding that this should have been done “25 or 30 years ago.”
The first executive order is titled “Modernizing Payments To and From America’s Bank Account.”
Per the executive order, “Effective September 30, 2025, and to the extent permitted by law, the Secretary of the Treasury shall cease issuing paper checks for all Federal disbursements inclusive of intragovernmental payments, benefits payments, vendor payments, and tax refunds, except” under certain circumstances.
The order explains that this action is being taken in order to reduce “fraud, lost payments, theft, and inefficiencies.” However, the order claims to not be helping establish a foundation for central bank digital currencies (CBDC). It reads:
The continued use of paper-based payments by the Federal Government, including checks and money orders, flowing into and out of the United States General Fund, which might be thought of as America’s bank account, imposes unnecessary costs; delays; and risks of fraud, lost payments, theft, and inefficiencies. Mail theft complaints have increased substantially since the COVID-19 pandemic. Historically, Department of the Treasury checks are 16 times more likely to be reported lost or stolen, returned undeliverable, or altered than an electronic funds transfer (EFT). Maintaining the physical infrastructure and specialized technology for digitizing paper records cost the American taxpayer over $657 million in Fiscal Year 2024 alone.
This order promotes operational efficiency by mandating the transition to electronic payments for all Federal disbursements and receipts by digitizing payments to the extent permissible under applicable law (but not, for avoidance of doubt, to establish a Central Bank Digital Currency).
All executive departments and agencies (agencies) shall comply with this directive by transitioning to EFT methods, including direct deposit, prepaid card accounts, and other digital payment options, and take all steps necessary to enroll recipients in EFT payments, except as specified in section 4 of this order.
In a related fact sheet, the Trump administration reiterated that “this Executive Order does not establish a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).”
The order also indicates that payments to the government, including taxes, must be made digitally. The fact sheet adds:
Payments made to the Federal government, such as fees, fines, loans, and taxes, must also be processed electronically where permissible under existing law.
A sister executive order was also signed by Trump called “Protecting America’s Bank Account Against Fraud, Waste, and Abuse. The executive order aims to “defend against financial fraud and improper payments, increase transparency and accountability around the Federal Government’s operations and financial condition, increase efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance the security of Federal payments.”
The order explicitly states it will consolidate and standardize critical government systems.
This order promotes financial integrity by enabling the Department of the Treasury to more easily conduct improper payment and fraud prevention screening prior to disbursing funds on behalf of agencies. This order increases transparency and accountability by requiring agencies to provide the Department of the Treasury with the information needed to track transactions through the General Fund in greater detail. This order also promotes operational efficiency by returning disbursing functions to the Department of the Treasury when possible and consolidating and standardizing core Federal financial systems.
The Secretary of the Treasury shall develop a plan to centralize and manage all payments previously disbursed by [Non-Treasury Disbursing Offices] NTDOs, ensuring seamless continuity of Government payments.
The Secretary of the Treasury, in coordination with agency heads, shall establish a transition plan for agencies currently operating as NTDOs, including staffing adjustments, system integrations, and legal or regulatory modifications necessary for full consolidation.
The order would also allow the Treasury access to “data necessary for the purposes of detecting and preventing fraud and improper payments, as well as data for payment information verification (and not, for example, data such as health records).”
Going back to the first executive order, Trump’s legislation refers to using instant transfer payment rails as part of this new digitalization consolidation.
The Secretary of the Treasury shall support agencies’ transition to digital payment methods, including by providing access through the Department of the Treasury’s centralized payment systems to:
(i) direct deposits;
(ii) debit and credit card payments;
(iii) digital wallets and real-time payment systems; and
(iv) other modern electronic payment options.
Though it was not named, the order presumably refers to the Federal Reserve’s instant transfer payment system FedNow released in mid-2023. FedNow is interconnected with people’s personal bank accounts, interlinked with participating banks, allowing payments of all kinds to be rapidly transferred in a minute or less. The platform will be operational 24/7, 365 days, including weekends and holidays.
Prior to its launch, Federal Reserve officials revealed FedNow would act as a springboard for CBDCs.
Fed Governor Michelle Bowman said during the VenCent Fintech Conference in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 2022:
“FedNow will help transform the way payments are made through new services that allow consumers and businesses to make payments conveniently, in real time, on any day, and with immediate availability of funds for receivers. Our assessment of these benefits has not changed even as we consider whether a central bank digital currency (CBDC) might fit into the future U.S. money and payments landscape.
“My expectation is that FedNow addresses the issues that some have raised about the need for a CBDC. As I’m sure you are already aware, earlier this year we published a discussion paper that outlined some design principles, costs, and benefits of a CBDC and solicited public comments. We received over 2,000 comments, and we are currently reviewing these comments and plan to publish a summary of them.”
Fed Chair Jerome Powell also touted FedNow’s benefits as well:
“A CBDC is going to be years in evaluation. And I think we can get this into the hands of the public very quickly, and we’ll have real-time payments in this country very very soon.
“[FedNow] will enable all the banks – any bank in the United States, not just the big ones – to offer instantly available funds and real-time payments to their customers.”
However, once the public became a little more privy to what FedNow represented and the concerns surrounding a CBDC, the Federal Reserve attempted to save face and claim FedNow does not enable a CBDC. But, as detailed by The WinePress, the Biden administration admitted in its “The Economic Report of the President” that FedNow does indeed enable a CBDC. The document concluded:
Certain innovations, such as FedNow and a potential U.S. CBDC, could help bring the U.S. financial infrastructure into the digital era in a clear and simple way, without the risks or irrational exuberance brought by crypto assets. Hence, continued investments in the Nation’s financial infrastructure have the potential to offer significant benefits to consumers and businesses, but regulators must apply the lessons that civilization has learned, and thus rely on economic principles, in regulating crypto assets.
In Response To Criticism, Federal Reserve Asserts That Instant Payment System “FedNow” Will Not Facilitate A CBDC, But The Biden Admin. Says Otherwise
·
Mar 26
So even though the Trump White House contends these latest executive orders are not preparing a path for a CBDC, the FedNow system they are inheriting does facilitate one.
Cleveland Federal Reserve President Loretta Mester also admitted in 2023 FedNow will allow the Fed and partner banks to mitigate and control transactions, claiming the instant transfer payment system would prevent fraud – the same language being used now by the Trump administration. Mester said (in part) in 2023:
“The initial release of the FedNow Service will include features to help banks manage fraud risk and mitigate fraud losses.
“It will include tools that allow participants to reject payments to and from accounts they have designated as suspicious and to put limits on the amount of the transaction.
“In addition, there will be tools that help a financial institution investigate erroneous or suspected fraudulent transactions. Combating fraud is a dynamic endeavor, so the service will be offering more fraud-prevention tools over time.
“A well-functioning and secure payment system is vital to our economy. As we modernize the payment system, it is important to remember that the foundation of a successful payment system is the public’s confidence in it.”
Federal Reserve President Loretta Mester Admits That Transactions Using FedNow Can Be Mitigated To Avoid ‘Banking Crisis’ And Bank Runs
·
Mar 26
President Trump and his administration have made a number of moves so far that prioritize digitalization and cryptocurrencies while moving away from traditional payment methods. This includes ordering the Treasury to stop minting new pennies, and more recently signing an executive order that establishes a strategic Bitcoin reserve.
Elon Musk, head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has also sought to retrofit government systems with blockchain technology, something a number of other governments use already.
Trump’s latest executive orders also come at a time when the European Central Bank revealed it plans to release its CBDC this October.
European Central Bank Plans To Release CBDC By October, But Research Shows The Public Does Not Want One
·
Mar 17
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AUTHOR COMMENTARY
Proverbs 29:5 A man that flattereth his neighbour spreadeth a net for his feet.
Make no mistake about it: the executive order claims to not be creating the framework for a CBDC, but the rest of the directives in the order state otherwise once you connect the dots; and the fact the Trump administration had to reiterate they are not creating a CBDC tells me that this will facilitate a CBDC!
Currently, it appears the United States is eyeing the route of using stablecoins instead of a CBDC, which has errantly been touted as a “win” by many online as it is seen as not empowering central banks but maintaining power to the people, behind the backdrop of the rhetoric and ruses to “end the Fed.”
I mention this because this is something I covered in my tokenization essay last year (which I plan to republish with new information in the near future), how a stablecoin is really not all that much different than a CBDC. Bitcoin Magazine just published an article the same day these executive orders were signed that argued a stablecoin is no different than a CBDC, arguing that “the bogeyman of CBDCs are nothing more than a distraction from the real financial surveillance and control threat: stablecoins.”
This is imperative for you to understand because the masses (those who are at least halfway paying attention) have been convinced CBDCs are evil (and they are), but do not realize a stablecoin is not that much different. But when they see executive orders such as these they think they are “winning.” No, they – we are LOSING big time… Classic bait & switch.
The proof is in the pudding: Trump and his administration are using the same language verbatim that Biden and the Federal Reserve were using. It’s a revolving door; it matters not who the President is: they are puppets told what to say and do.
Ecclesiastes 10:19 A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry: but money answereth all things.
Furthermore, now you know what the Trump administration means by “fraud:” they are treating us as the criminals, and they are going to ‘protect’ us from ‘bad actors’ by seizing more of our personal privacy and liberties. This is what I argued in my piece covering Larry Ellison’s horrifying and Orwellian language he used earlier this year, and how this push by Musk and DOGE is to “cut” workers and departments so they can be replaced with AI. I wrote in that article:
As I alluded to in my detailed essay on tokenization last year, people such as Trump, Musk, Javier Millei, and a number of so-called “patriotic” politicians in Europe are being propped up right now to mislead the masses. The American empire, the European Union, the Western hegemon, are collapsing and there is nothing that can be done to stop it. So, as the rich fat cats jump ship and get out before the Titanic sinks, the wealth and power needs to be restructured. But no one wants to hear that their empire is dead and people’s way of living is about to get very difficult more than it already is; so, people like Trump and these other guys are being sent down from “human resources” (metaphorically speaking) to deliver the “bad news,” but they have such a great way of spinning it that they make you think it’s a great opportunity and there is a silver lining. That’s why these leaders are selling this collapse and consolidation with a libertarian, reductionist, patriotic and populist spin.
Oracle’s Larry Ellison Wants To ‘Unify’ All Of America’s Data And DNA Into AI Datacenters To Be Studied And Mitigate People’s Lives In A Dystopian Nightmare
·
Feb 13
And so now, by their own words, this push to digitize is not “cutting” but consolidating. Do you see it now, do you get what is really happening?
Please share this report so we can warn whoever we still can.
Though we still have a ways to go yet I believe, this is yet another step closer towards the mark of the beast system.
Revelation 13:16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: [17] And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. [18] Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.’
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Author: Dr. Paul Alexander
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