Recently I’ve heard lots of talk about CBDCs, and how it will benefit the world, and provide banking to the Un-banked. Hearing this I simply go in my head, “I wonder what plot our oooo sooo wonderful smart governments are plotting now to force it on to us.” But hold on.
That’s not all. CBDCs aren’t some Eastern Block thing that only Russia, China, and other so-called authoritarian countries are pulling out. It has not only been planned in the west, talked about, and canceled, but re-introduced through a more subtle means.
The Hidden CBDC Backdoor
You may have heard about Stablecoins, and have definitely used them, owned them, and transacted with them to trade crypto on platforms like Binance and Coinbase. They are the essential in trading, and acting as a stable anchor when trading volatile crypto that often fluctuate before a fiat withdrawal can be performed.
However two of the most prominent Stablecoins, USDC and USDT, which is present in every corner of the crypto world, and is used from trading, to transacting across the world, has a few hidden features within them that most people don’t even know.
USDC And USDT — The Psudo-CBDC
USDC and USDT both initially came out to serve a similar purpose. Back in 2014, the crypto industry realized that traders were often exposed to volatile tokens when trading and had no place to park their wealth. Withdrawing to fiat often took days, and bank rails were often unreliable.
Due to this various private companies started to make Stablecoins, a crypto that was pegged to the US Dollar to ensure it remained stable, and allowing for a smoother on/off ramp for traders to hop out, and store their wealth safely.
Due to this various private companies started to make Stablecoins, a crypto that was pegged to the US Dollar to ensure it remained stable, and allowing for a smoother on/off ramp for traders to hop out, and store their wealth safely.
USDT launched on the 21st of July 2014, initially launching under the name RealCoin. It was one of the very first Stablecoins after BitUSD. Being backed by fiat instead of Crypto, allowing it to remain stable throughout. USDT became the king of stablecoins and battle tested throughout the years since then, and is still used among traders till this day.
USDC came out in 2018, around the same time as the fall of BitUSD, and was essentially the compliment sibling of USDT. It focused more on compliance, making it suitable to be used by large reputable corporations and companies, and institutions, while USDT was still seen with caution.
USDC was compliment friendly, and was used by large institutions and private corporations and sometimes governments, while USDT was less compliment heavy, and focusing more on accessibility, and freedom. Allowing it to be used by retail traders, and every day people for transactions.
Hidden Features And Control
Ever since the 2016 Bitfinex Hack, USDT introduced a feature that allows the issuer, Tether Limited to centrally freeze the tokens, preventing it from transacting. Then if enough evidence of it being tainted was found, then they follow up by burning the coins, and essentially removing them from the Blockchain and reissuing them to law enforcement and victims wallets.
USDC on the other hand, had this feature since the start. Especially due to the whole compliance angle it was going for. Though in case of USDC, it rarely used the burn or mint function, preferring to simply freeze the tokens, allowing law enforcement to physically retrieve them.
These two features, along with the fact that these are on a public Blockchain, allowing them to be tracked, means that these essentially act as CBDCs or Central Bank Digital Currencies. If that wasn’t hard enough to swallow. Remember, in one case, USDT has already burnt 55.6% of 1.26 Billion Dollar worth of frozen funds, or around 659 Million Dollar worth.
And with the upcoming Clarity Act, MiCA, and others implemented throughout, this means that we are already living through an age of CBDC Pilot program. The West has chosen to go the private route, while the east has decided to go with the more Government control but equally as pretentious.
Alternatives
Despite everything. There are numerous alternatives to these Stablecoins that exchanges and trading platforms can offer traders and investors that could significantly reduce risk.
Some of these include USDS (Formerly DAI), fUSD (Freedom USD), MidNight etc.
If you’re also looking for non-USD based Stablecoins, there are also others released in Russia. Like A7A5, released by A7 back in 2025, with 49% owned by the Russian Central Bank.
Conclusions
Stablecoins are a big and essential part of the crypto industry. It allows traders to trade crypto with the fear of volatility wipe out their profits, and easily off ramp without doing constant fiat transfers. And it also helps in general day to day transactions between buyers and companies that are now moving to Crypto based payment systems.
However on the other hand, it is clear that Stablecoins such as the USDC and USDT, while they are compliment friendly, and useful for tracking illicite use of funds. They are also a tool for Government surveillance and forced compliance.
