lets use china's CBDC...
firstly there is no blockchain.. best comparison is LN or them 'federated' token subnetworks. but the first(of many) differences is, there is no master/main blockchain backing the value.
(no backed funding lock that is pegged from a blockchain utxo of mined coins)
instead the tokens come into existence by 'the peoples bank of china' and half a dozen private payment services co-signing a multig with X units of value..
this is their funding commitment
these tokens come to exist because they all agreed it exists and the bank has authorised its existence with the payment services
where by the outputs split china banks tokens into portions for the payment services to have control of on their keys
below that. each payment service then splits its portion
parts go between other payment services to allow (altnet buzzword: routing between services)
parts go between regional agents of the service to allow altnet buzzword: routing between service and agents)
these are signed by the services and agents AND the bank
below that. each agent then splits its portion
parts go to its customers
these are signed by the services and agents.. not the bank
in china's CBDC case. there are 3 levels of 'agents'
top level is for the super rich/large businesses
mid level is for the moderate income/small business
low level is the low income
each level has a 'reserve' limit (max balance/spend)
whereby the low level is small they dont require any KYC to open an account. but are limited in how much they can send and receive.
if they want to send/receive more they have to upgrade to the mid or top level agent app/wallet. which does require KYC
..
the low level wallets are not monitored like the top-mid are by the payment service. they are simply passing funds on request.(as said, small amounts so its not bother to check who done want and why)
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the KYC data of mid-top levels are not on an open database or blockchain everyone in the system can see. its a closed database separate from the payment 'route' multisig. where by its held entirely and seen entirely only by the payment service and its agents.
1 payment service does not give full access to the peoples bank of china or its competing payment service.
however for levels top and mid. when a payment is "routed" the KYC of that payment is sent to the competing payment service.
no KYC is sent when those using the low level wallet is paying another individual on the network
the payment service does all the KYC storage and the suspicious activity monitoring, and reporting.
chinese authorities do not get told about every payment. nor all users of mid top KYC.
when there is a suspicious activity of top mid level. the payment details are sent to chinese authorities whom if requested the authorities then ask for KYC of that particular reports payment identity.
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emphasis no government has nor ever will employ enough public sector analysts to watch every single citizens activities.. its impossible
instead they get the payment services to do the monitoring and only report the juicy suspicious stuff to government.
and no. china is not the exception. unlike fox news.. if you do real research. china is not spying on all its citizens all the time.. neither is the us government or any other government.
Governments have no need to use Blockchain tech in order to get what they want. Their CBDCs will consist of centralized databases that can be restricted access at will. It's more like a permissioned, private chain but without the "Blockchain" nametag. China has its own digital currency in circulation, but that hasn't improved its position in the global economy. Things will be even worse for Chinese citizens using the new digital cash system backed by the government, as everything will be audited by the central bank. Even though it may appear that the government isn't spying on people's transactions, they could be doing it behind the scenes. After all, they control the system. It's much easier to control what comes in/out of a centralized digital cash system, than traditional Fiat in the form of paper money.
It's a dangerous world out there for anyone seeking true financial freedom. At least, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies will be there to save the day. As long as decentralization wins, there should be nothing to worry about. Just my thoughts