I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies... The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs." -- Thomas Jefferson

Central Banks have been the bane of conspiracy theorists for centuries, with people of all political stripes taking one side or the other. One can argue whether central banks are good or bad? Have they stabilized economies or manipulated nations? Have they gotten rich by dint of unfair government sanctioned monopolies or do they offer a public service? Do central banks assist governments, or do they surreptitiously rule the world -- the last charge usually defines the inner cabal of conspirators as the Illuminati, the Elders of Zion, the Freemasons, or the rarely mentioned above a breath, but truly fearsome, International Order of Odd Fellows .

The recent emergence of e-currencies such as Bitcoin and Z-cash, offered the promise of an escape from the questionable and discredited specie of central banks; escape from government surveillance, and taxes. However, the central banks have struck back; and this time, we should fear for what remains of liberty.

The Bank of England has announced a plan to launch its own Bitcoin-like cryptocurrency. The cryptocurrency called RSCoin will also function on Blockchain, the distributed ledger system on which Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are built. -- cointelegraph

(RSCoin: Real Stack Coin.)

The Bank of England?! The Ur Central Bank?! The mother of central banking?! The subject of centuries of suspicion. This is the institution which has come up with the answer to Bitcoin?!

The conspiracy theorists will have a field day with this; and this time, they may have a point.

Computer scientists have devised a digital crypto-currency in league with the Bank of England that could pose a devastating threat to large tranches of the financial industry, and profoundly change the management of monetary policy. The proto-currency known as RSCoin has vastly greater scope than Bitcoin, used for peer-to-peer transactions by libertarians across the world, and beyond the control of any political authority. -- Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, as quoted by Forbes

How odd that this is starting to come out just as Britain contemplates exiting the European Union? A Google search shows that references to RSCoin show up only recently.

The discerning might have noticed this ominous article from November 2015:

Bank of England, Europol Seek Interns with Blockchain Experience -- Cryptocoinnews

While this seems to have come out of nowhere -- and at a most perspicacious moment -- it clearly has been brewing for some time. The central banks were not going to surrender power without a fight.

If anyone believes that the Bank of England will manage RSCoin with the laissez-faire freedom that defines Bitcoin, then I have a bridge in Brooklyn I would like to sell you, or rather a bridge in London -- which by the way is now in Arizona. The difference is enormous.

However, Bitcoin’s ledger is maintained by a collection of computers around the world, operated by various people and companies not sworn to any central authority. And its code decrees that there can never be more than 21 million Bitcoins (they are being trickled out over time, and 15 million are in circulation today). RSCoin’s ledger is solely in the hands of the central bank, which would also retain a special encryption key that could be used to control the money supply -- for example, to take actions like the quantitative easing programs the Federal Reserve and other central banks put in place after the 2008 financial crisis. -- Technology Review

"[S]olely in the hands of the Central Bank." RSCoin will be end of fungibility and anonymity. It is the antithesis of Bitcoin. The Central Banks or, in this case, the original central bank is taking over. This is the very end of personal freedom. The Bank will know everything you buy, and hence everything you do; and so will governments, the flip side of the coin, pun intended.

As we have watched governments yield more power to bankers, it has become increasingly obvious that the line of distinction has become blurred. Just who is in charge?!

Well, first of all, the Federal Reserve is an independent agency; and that means basically that there is no other agency of government which can overrule actions that we take... Alan Greenspan -- PBS News Hour -- 2007

Apparently for the bankers, Thomas Jefferson be damned!

The Currency Act -- one of Britain's Intolerable Acts, which forced the colonies to borrow from London bankers -- was a primary reason for the Revolution. Have we forgotten this? The revolutionaries were determined that the power of central banks be kept in check. They understood well that control at this level was tyranny.

Yet, we have ceded to central banks power to override government. Exactly what Jefferson and Franklin warned us against.

And our population, trained by Apple Pay [or Samsung Pay, or Chase Pay], will no doubt embrace this e-currency. Trained?! They line up at computer stores to be the first to sign up for the new enslaving technology, which is sold to them as freedom from cash. As I write this on March 21, 2016, Apple is having a new event:

The iPhone SE is also said to be packing a 12 MP rear-facing camera, support for Apple's mobile payment system, Apple Pay, and 4K video recording. -- Tech Times

Our people are lining up for their tethers. They can't wait to be chained.

The present economic crisis -- with government and bankers managing whole blocks of countries -- is a clear demonstration that, in our modern world, banking and government are incestuously connected; with distinctions often artificial. Like Einstein's concept of space-time, we would do well to speak of banking-government, and dispense with any illusions that they are distinct. Like physics: is light a particle or a wave? The answer depends on the observer. Is the bureaucrat a government official or a banker? The answer depends on the reporter.

If anyone thinks the Federal Reserve will not follow the Bank of England, then they are not paying attention. Ultimately, only one Central Bank can win; the question is: Which one? It may be the Ur Central Bank. Whoever wins, freedom loses.

This ancient prophecy has just come a whole lot closer.

Rev 13:17 that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

This is no longer wacky conspiracy theory. This is what our Founding Fathers -- and ancient Hebrew prophets -- warned us about.

Mike Konrad is the pen name of an American who is Latin, nor Arab. He runs a website, http://latinarabia.com, where he discusses the subculture of Arabs in Latin America. He wishes his Spanish were better.