FACT CHECK: Will An Executive Order Replace Cash With Digital Currency In December 2022?
A video shared on Instagram claims an Executive Order from President Joe Biden will purportedly replace cash with digital currency by December 2022.
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Verdict: False
The claim is baseless. Central banking and financial law experts denied that digital currency will replace cash.
Fact Check:
Newly-confirmed Federal Reserve Governor Michael Barr announced a push for congress to take action regarding potential regulation of “stablecoin” cryptocurrencies, according to CNBC. Congress is also looking into five digital asset exchanges for information regarding protection against crypto scams, the outlet reported.
Now, an Instagram video claims cash will be replaced with digital currency starting in December 2022.
“The American dollar will be useless by December 13,” the speaker alleges in the video. He then cites an article from Venture Capitalist Magazine, titled, “Ultimate Doom! Dec. 13, 2022 Now Called ‘C-DAY’ ‘BIDEN BUCKS/ Central Bank Digital Currency: (CBDC) Executive Order 14067.”
The article claims the order eliminates cash in favor of digital “Biden Bucks,” which would be the only method to pay for food, rent, cars, mortgages, and clothes.
The claim is baseless. The executive order cited in the article focuses on how to create a potential central bank digital currency in the U.S. and considers its implications on existing currency, national security, and global leadership. The order makes no reference to “Biden bucks” or calls for the elimination of fiat currency in the U.S.
Likewise, there are no credible news reports to suggest the U.S. is seeking to transition away from the dollar. (RELATED: Did Tesla Announce A New Electronic Currency?)
“There’s absolutely no truth to the rumor. Totally spurious,” Ken Kuttner, a central banking expert and professor at Williams College, told Check Your Fact in an email.
“The order merely directs the government and Federal Reserve to study central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) – which the Fed is already doing…but nobody is talking about doing away with cash, much less declaring it worthless,” he said.
Jean-Paul Lam, an associate professor at the University of Waterloo, told Check Your Fact via email the claim was ” utter nonsense.”
“A central bank digital currency may one day replace or co-exist with Fiat, but we are many years away from this for most countries, including the U.S,” Lam explained.
Financial law expert and Boston University lecturer Cornelius Hurley also responded to the post’s claim, describing it as “flatly wrong.”
Cryptocurrency has repeatedly been the subject of false claims on social media. Check Your Fact previously debunked a claim from May 2022 suggesting Forbes published an article regarding a Chinese-backed cryptocurrency.
