[kcorbitt]

One of the key properties of a decentralized cryptocurrency is the absolute control of a private key holder over his/her wallet.

My question is this: in the proposed scheme if 80-year-old Uncle Jim forgets/misplaces his private key, will the US government really just sit back and say "tough, I guess you just irrevocably lost all your USDC"? Or will they put in some kind of appeal process/back door to allow Uncle Jim to regain access to his funds?

Because if that back door exists -- and I have trouble imagining the US (or any other pragmatic) government building a meaningful system without it -- then the currency isn't actually decentralized anymore, and you might as well drop the "crypto" overhead entirely.