(OPINION) A well-known German economist has revealed that central banks around the world are planning to introduce central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) in the form of microchips implanted under the skin. This technology will enable complete government control over personal finances of its citizens.

“I was taught by a central banker [that] the CBDCs look like a small grain of rice that they want to put under your skin,” said Richard Werner in an interview with podcaster Ivor Cummins. Werner is known for developing the now commonly used bank practice of quantitative easing.

CBDCs, in comparison to other forms of digital currency used at present, demand that individuals open bank accounts directly with central banks such as the Federal Reserve, granting governments control over citizens’ access to money.

“You have to think of CDBCs as a control system [or a permit system], not a currency,” Werner said, adding that people’s money “would no longer be truly their own.” (Related: Expert warns CBDCs could lead economies to a dark path – where governments dictate what you can purchase.)

Werner considers implanted CBDCs a “violation of human dignity,” noting that central bankers themselves know that this common opinion among the masses “is a hurdle.”

“They say there’s a problem of trust because people suspect that governments and central banks are just trying to roll this out in order to monitor and control and restrict transactions. They’re absolutely right,” said Werner.

Cummins noted that while implanted CBDCs may sound like a conspiracy theory to some, thousands of people have already agreed to have microchips implanted under their skin to ease financial transactions and access to select areas. Late last year, the first British implanted with a bank card microchip was able to make purchases with only the tap of his hand.

Meanwhile, several Christian commentators have indicated that if such technology becomes a requirement for access to goods and services, it will lead to authoritarianism of biblical magnitude.

According to Werner, CBDCs will be brought in through phone-based apps during the initial phase. “Why hasn’t it been rolled out yet? There’s no actual need for it. That need has to be created,” Werner said.

He said central banks will likely use a carrot-and-stick approach to convince people to adopt CBDCs under the skin, starting with creating economic crises that will induce a demand for universal basic income (UBI), a government program in which every adult citizen receives a set amount of money regularly.

The central banks will then claim that they “need the CBDC chip implant” to run the UBI efficiently. Such CBDCs, Werner said, will permit the denial of access to goods and services in accordance with government mandate compliance.

Werner thinks the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which gave an excuse for the enforcement of vaccine passports, was one crucial step toward the end goal of rolling out implanted CBDCs. (READ MORE)