Would govcoins/CBDCs shift power from individuals to the state, or from the banks to the state? (I'm assuming you don't count the banks among the individuals you are referring to.)
Given the nature of bank regulations today, I don't think that the power-relationship between individuals and the government will change substantially with the introduction of CBDCs. Even today, governments set policies as to what kinds of accounts banks can keep open, and what type of business bank customers are permitted to transact using their bank accounts. Banks are required to report potentially suspicious activity surreptitiously to law enforcement agencies, and are required to disclose their customers' information and activity to the government when asked. I'm not sure how much more power individuals would be giving up.
What will change, however, is that banks would find it difficult to operate once a CBDC has been introduced in a country. Consumers would prefer to receive and make payments through an electronic system that charges lower fees. Businesses would prefer to hold their cash assets in a flexible medium that is fully backed by the central bank, rather than having to worry about extending credit to a commercial bank (which could become very risky after the introduction of CBDCs). Bank balances would be transferred to CBDCs on a massive scale, putting many banks in financial peril.
An argument might be made that CBDCs would speed up the demise of physical cash—which I wouldn't entirely disagree with. That is, however, a question pertaining to the slope of that particular trend line, not its general direction. The current banking system is already pushing us towards giving up cash; the pressures that are preventing physical cash from being eliminated are largely cultural and political, not economic or infrastructural. CBDCs' effect on the politics and culture of physical cash will at most be general and incremental.
Given the nature of bank regulations today, I don't think that the power-relationship between individuals and the government will change substantially with the introduction of CBDCs. Even today, governments set policies as to what kinds of accounts banks can keep open, and what type of business bank customers are permitted to transact using their bank accounts. Banks are required to report potentially suspicious activity surreptitiously to law enforcement agencies, and are required to disclose their customers' information and activity to the government when asked. I'm not sure how much more power individuals would be giving up.
What will change, however, is that banks would find it difficult to operate once a CBDC has been introduced in a country. Consumers would prefer to receive and make payments through an electronic system that charges lower fees. Businesses would prefer to hold their cash assets in a flexible medium that is fully backed by the central bank, rather than having to worry about extending credit to a commercial bank (which could become very risky after the introduction of CBDCs). Bank balances would be transferred to CBDCs on a massive scale, putting many banks in financial peril.
An argument might be made that CBDCs would speed up the demise of physical cash—which I wouldn't entirely disagree with. That is, however, a question pertaining to the slope of that particular trend line, not its general direction. The current banking system is already pushing us towards giving up cash; the pressures that are preventing physical cash from being eliminated are largely cultural and political, not economic or infrastructural. CBDCs' effect on the politics and culture of physical cash will at most be general and incremental.