Share this article

Are Central Bank Coins the End of Financial Privacy?

As the European Union gets more serious about a digital euro, most central bank digital currencies intend to remove the anonymity of cash.

Updated Sep 14, 2021, 10:04 a.m. Published Oct 5, 2020, 8:30 p.m.
Breakdown 10.5

As the European Union gets more serious about a digital euro, most central bank digital currencies intend to remove the anonymity of cash.

STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters

For more episodes and free early access before our regular 3 p.m. Eastern time releases, subscribe with Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocketcasts, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Stitcher, RadioPublica, iHeartRadio or RSS.

This episode is sponsored by Crypto.comNexo.io and Elliptic.

Today on the Brief:

  • Markets gain as Pres. Trump’s condition stabilizes
  • SEC Chairman Clayton sees future where all stocks are tokenized
  • Uniswap had more volume than Coinbase in September

Our main discussion: central bank coins and financial privacy.

The EU recently released a new research paper on a possible digital euro. Like many other official central bank reports, it assumes there is no possibility of an anonymous digital bank currency. NLW dissects arguments from people including JP Koning and CoinCenter’s Jerry Brito on why this shouldn’t be true.

See also: ‘The Fed Meetings Are a Dead Spectator Sport’ – Best of The Breakdown September 2020

For more episodes and free early access before our regular 3 p.m. Eastern time releases, subscribe with Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocketcasts, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Stitcher, RadioPublica, iHeartRadio or RSS.

Note: The views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of CoinDesk, Inc. or its owners and affiliates.

More For You

Protocol Research: GoPlus Security

GP Basic Image

What to know:

  • As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
  • GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
  • Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.

More For You

Bitcoin's massive underperformance to stocks in Q4 bodes well for January, says K33's Lunde

Bulls

After an active morning Tuesday, bitcoin flattened out in afternoon trading around the $87,500 area, up 2% over the past 24 hours.

What to know:

  • Bitcoin held in the $87,500 in U.S. afternoon action on Tuesday, up 2% over the past 24 hours.
  • K33 analyst Vetle Lunde suggested BTC's relative weakness to stocks this quarter could mean rebalancing-led buying once January rolls around.