Thread by @HyunSongShin

Timely outing on Odd Lots with @tracyalloway and @TheStalwart to discuss data silos and "walled gardens" in the digital economy

One thought occurred to me after the podcast.

Here's a quick thread.

https://twitter.com/TheStalwart/status/1408032963925848070

Privacy looms large when CBDCs come up, as digital currencies rely on a ledger of some kind - a record of who owns what, when, and who pays what to whom; see this (tough but fair) interview with @izakaminska and @senoj_erialc I gave to @FTAlphaville

https://twitter.com/HyunSongShin/status/1407760371302252544?s=20

The idea of a digital ID-based CBDC causes discomfort (to say the least); it conjures up notions of compulsory national identity cards
See this classic episode of "Yes Minister", for instance

But it's worth casting the net wider, as digital ID needn't be a government-issued national ID system;

See the box on the subject in the BIS report on CBDCs (page 83)

bis.org/publ/arpdf/ar2…

And there's always the "jigsaw puzzle" principle; no single party (other than the individual him/herself) has all the pieces; public key cryptography is a pretty familiar technology going back to the 1970s

There is a brief discussion of the "federated ID model" in the chapter

Anyway, the centrality of data in the digital economy means that "walled gardens" are all around for the unwary

It's nice inside, but it can be pretty difficult to escape once you're there

I should have mentioned to @tracyalloway and @TheStalwart the classic 1960s TV series "The Prisoner"

It's not a bad allegory for walled gardens

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Priso…

If you're into this kind of thing, the opening episode is up on YouTube in its entirety

Adding two further pieces to this thread (looks like our CBDC chapter has started quite a lively debate).

The first is this thoughtful piece by @MESandbu that asks all the right questions on what broader impact of CBDCs will be

ft.com/content/1b35d7…

The second piece is from @gilliantett; “A contest to control crypto is under way” on.ft.com/3wUMSAA