As I have previously discussed, New Zealand is a small highly digital country that is already mostly cashless. The opportunity for either Bitcoin or a CBDC to emerge here as a dominant tool is quite a lot more realistic than in larger economies with more "moving parts". NZ led the way with EFTPOS cards in the 1980s and there are many shops and places where you cannot even pay with cash anymore.

This idea of 'Open banking' is a code word for a form of social credit where your driver licence, passport, or shopping loyalty cards all sit in a single framework.

This is not good.

"Now, you stand at the supermarket checkout and need to produce a card to pay, a loyalty card, an ID to buy your bottle of sav blanc, and take a paper fuel discount voucher – it’s a three-minute process at best. With a digital wallet, this could all be completed in a single tap of your phone to the contactless terminal – which could reduce queues and speed up the shopping experience for everyone."

"The infrastructure is already in place. These ideas will revolutionise the ways we pay and bank. This is a future where you no longer need to carry your driver’s licence, your loyalty cards or your passport – you only need your phone."

"Although it sounds futuristic, the infrastructure we need to deliver this is already in place. Worldline is pioneering the use of blockchain and open banking in Europe, starting with peer-to-peer offline payments and working towards digital currency. In Austria, Worldline is already delivering digital identification with great success."

A digital shitcoin of a fiat shitcoin? Lol...