Jamal Al-Farouq The Federal Reserve’s Chairman, Jerome Powell, gave an update about what the Fed is working on- a digital currency for central banks. While explaining that the technical work was being made, he pointed out that “policy issues are equally important”.
Congressman Stephen Lynch asked Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell about a digital version of money, the “digital dollar,” in a meeting on Wednesday. Congressman Lynch leads the committee responsible for understanding digital assets and financial technologies. When asked what progress was being made on this work, Powell said:
The Federal Reserve is having conversations with the public and researching how policy and technology can work together. A year ago, they asked the public for their opinion on creating a digital currency (CBDC). In the future, they will ask for people’s opinions again but don’t know when that will happen. When it comes to making decisions about creating a CBDC, the Fed Chairman wants to make sure everyone understands what’s going on.
“Right now, we’re just testing things out – trying to figure out how it all works, if it even works and what the best technology is. We’re really still in the beginning stages,” he said.
Chair Powell also made sure to emphasize that while they are making progress on technological issues, policy issues are just as important. He finished by saying that they aren’t quite ready yet to make real decisions.
The people in charge of money stuff haven’t decided yet whether this new thing called a “CBDC” is something the country would want or need. Meanwhile, some people in Congress are trying to make rules about the use of CBDCs if the Fed introduces one. Recently, Tom Emmer from Minnesota produced a bill that stops the Fed from using a CBDC to control money and the economy.
Do you think the Federal Reserve (also known as the “Fed”) will eventually create a digital form of currency? Let us know by leaving a comment down below.
