Renowned American trend forecaster, Gerald Celente has extended his long-term projection of a global economic collapse, a factor that he predicts will accelerate the shift toward central bank digital currencies (CBDC). 

According to Celente, governments will use CBDCs in the wake of a global economic collapse as part of rectifying the mess created by fiat currencies. He also warned about the risks of surveillance with the rollout of CBDCs. 

“They are going to use this as an excuse to come up with a new currency. They [governments] have all this debt, and they’ve got to wash it out with a new currency. <…> With a digital currency, they know every penny that you spend, where you spend it, and what you spend it on. <…> They’ll have more control over you, but most importantly, they’ll get every penny from you in tax dollars,” he said.