China Bank Do China

China’s Social Credit System and Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) extend the surveillance that exists in public to the financial activities of its citizens. The system combines a national credit-rating record and blacklisting tool developed by the government. It tracks businesses, individuals and government institutions in order to evaluate trustworthiness. The program initiated regional trials in 2009, before launching a national pilot with eight credit scoring firms in 2014. These insidious technologies have the power to datify, control, and restrict people’s spending. Transparency is one thing. Control of this kind is quite another. As other central banks around the world consider implementing CBDCs, the threat to human privacy and human rights is considerable.