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Fed to Launch CBDC Review as Early as This Week: Report

 

Officials at the Fed are set to release a paper soliciting public comment on a central bank digital currency.

 

The U.S Federal Reserve is set to initiate a review of the risks and opportunities in introducing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) as early as this week, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.

 

Officials at the Fed will release a paper soliciting public comment on the matter, the WSJ reported Monday.

 

A decision is unlikely to be taken quickly given the difference in opinion between Fed officials on the benefits and risks that a CBDC could offer.

 

Such a report exploring these further was initially expected in September. Fed Chair Jerome Powell stressed on Sept. 22 that one was coming “soon.”

 

However, the decision to launch a CBDC would only be made if there are “clear and tangible benefits that outweigh any costs and risks,” he said.

 

Powell referred to the development of a digital dollar as “critical work” last week during a Senate Banking Committee hearing, adding that it would require legislation from Congress in order to proceed.

 

Fed to release CBDC review paper; Kevin O'Leary says Fedcoin is not going to happen

 

As the Federal Reserve prepares to launch a paper reviewing the U.S. central bank digital currency (CBDC), colloquially known as the Fedcoin, investors are speculating as to when it will be released and what its release will mean for the rest of the cryptocurrency market.

 

Kevin O’Leary, chairman of O’Shares ETFs and star of the reality TV show Shark Tank, says that a Fedcoin, in the purest sense of the word, is unlikely to ever happen.

 

Speaking to Michelle Makori, editor-in-chief of Kitco News, O’Leary said that stablecoins pegged to the U.S. dollar or another anchor, fiat currency, could operate in the same way as a central bank digital currency, and all the government needs to do is regulate stablecoin issuers like banks.