You can also use cash, to deny data harvesting, which is one of the primary business drivers for CBDCs. Data about money is worth more than money. SF, NYC, Philly, MA and NJ have laws requiring cash acceptance. In addition, NYC passed one of the first bills requiring restaurant delivery apps to share transaction data with restaurants.

CBDC advocates are contemplating laws that will affect data (the most valuable asset and not well understood) while focusing most legislative attention on money. Instead, we could start by restoring legal data ownership to individuals. Then banks and fintech and bigtech can compete against each other to gain the consent of individuals for data access, in exchange for services and/or payment, with meaningful access and usage controls. In other words, enforce algorithmic micro-policy on corporate use of individual data, not on individual behavior.