hearing on the digital dollar two weeks ago was not only a public exploration and introduction to the concept a central bank-backed digital currency, the hearing was also used as a platform to publicly assassinate the viability of the private (“bogus” in the words of Senator Warren) cryptocurrency market (bitcoin, stablecoins, etc.).
With this in mind, the Chinese government has continually tightened control over the crypto market in China, most recently cracking down on cryptocurrency mining in the country. The U.S. Justice Department announced a few weeks ago that it “recovered” $2.3 million in cryptocurrency of the ransom collected from the Colonial Pipeline hack. And today, it was reported that South Korea seized almost $50 million of crypto assets from citizens accused of tax evasion.
So the benefits of the private cryptocurrency market are being deconstructed by governments. Add to that, even after gaining traction, the private crypto market continues to be used primarily as a tool of corruption and speculation. With that, this chart set up argues for a typical bubble outcome (crash).
At the end of the day the blockchain is the real useful underlying and revolutionary new technology here. Adding great transparency to the financial system should be the desire of any hardwork and law abiding person. Far too often the mega rich get away with all sorts of financial trickery because they hide behind bank transactions that are almost impossible to follow. That could be greatly reduced if you know where every unit of currency is held at all times in a publicly accessible ledger. Bitcoin and the many current cryptocurrencies should just be seen as a stepping stone, do not get too attached to any of them because as you say - the government will want to implement a version that they control now they've seen how it can be used for digital cash.