The president has called on the Treasury Department to spearhead a series of reports looking into CBDC technologies and how to implement them as national interest.
U.S. President Joe Biden called for an urgent focus on research and development of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) in his executive order signed in March.
The order calls for a full-scale assessment of the potential benefits and risks of a CBDC, both for consumers and investors as well as the broader U.S. financial system. Biden has ordered the Treasury Department to spearhead the research and report, with input from other federal agencies, including the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of Homeland Security.
The assessment is also supposed to determine whether the implementation of a CBDC would be in “the national interest.”
Tokenized form of the USD could help improve financial access for the unbanked and make it easier to disburse government aid, proponents argue. Federal Reserve’s role in promoting the system’s safety and efficiency, currently by serving as a “network hub” that connects some, but not all, of the system’s forms of money. More recently, there have been calls to expand the Federal Reserve “network” further providing to financial institutions the foundations for safe and efficient payments as it does today, and to offer new services such as a general-purpose central bank digital currency (CBDC), directly to the public or indirectly through existing banking channels.
Many countries are already experimenting with the concept, with China’s digital yuan perhaps the most advanced so far. China is world leader in applying DigitalID, Social Credit System and CBDC digital yuan and already being piloted in cities across the country. We have true example how it went down this combination of technologies, that empowers the central authorities and is taking away the freedom of the people like free will and choice.
The order suggests that Biden does not want the U.S. to get left behind over 100 countries who are exploring or piloting CBDCs, without previous referendum or public debate with crypto experts, independent economists and retail businesses. The creation of USD CBDC will preserve the leading role of dollar as world currency, since all international trades are with US dollar.
