Christopher Waller, the Governor of the Federal Reserve, shared his thoughts about a central bank digital currency (CBDC) and said that he is not in favor of it.
The governor said that it would just be a checking account at the US central bank. Jerome Powell, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, recently stated that they had not decided if they were going to issue a digital dollar or not.
Skeptical governor
On Tuesday, Christopher Waller was in attendance at the Money 20/20 conference held in Las Vegas, where he shared his perspective on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
The governor of the Federal Reserve said that he was not a big fan of a digital dollar because it would only be a checking account.
But, he did add that he was willing to listen to anyone who could convince him if it could really be valuable.
Some people have asserted that a digital currency backed by the Fed would help in ensuring the dominance of the US dollar in the international currency market.
After all, there are a lot of countries, including China, who has been working on developing their own central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
China’s progress
The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) has been running trials of its digital yuan. In fact, the Chinese central bank revealed last month that they would expand the testing areas of their CBDC.
The PBOC announced this month said that as of August 31st, the total transactions that had been conducted with its central bank digital currency (CBDC) surpassed the 100 billion yuan mark.
According to Waller, he could not understand why China was offering its citizens a checking account at the central bank.
Likewise, he could not figure out how it would affect the role the US dollar played in the global payments system.
The CBDC
Back in January, the Federal Reserve published a report that outlined the work it was doing on the digital dollar.
It was called the first step that was taken for discussing the CBDC between the US central bank and the stakeholders.
However, it should be noted that the Federal Reserve has not decided if it will actually issue a digital dollar, or not.
The chairman of the Fed, Jerome Powell had discussed the matter back in September and said that they were not decided about the CBDC and would not make the decision for a while.
He went on to say that it would take them a few years to go through the process and they would also work on earning the confidence of the public before they come to an ultimate conclusion.
Powell also asserted that they would have to get approval from Congress as well as the executive branch before they decide if they are going to issue a central bank digital currency or not.
Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) have become quite a hot topic recently, with a number of countries working on the digital versions of their respective fiats.
