• U.S. is researching digital dollar
    The U.S. Federal Reserve is actively researching a digital dollar, according to Fed Governor Lael Brainard (Photo: Council on Foreign Relations)
    Cryptocurrencies,  Politics,  Regulation,  Technology

    Fed Governor says U.S. is researching a digital dollar

    The Federal Reserve may be well behind China, but news that it is actively looking at a central bank digital currency is a big step forward

    August 14, 2020 /

    Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard said Thursday a U.S. central bank digital currency won’t happen overnight. A significant policy process which the Fed has not committed to would be required to consider the issuance of a CBDC, along with extensive deliberations and engagement with other parts of the federal government and a broad set of other stakeholders.

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  • Bitcoin is not a new type of money
    The crypto Twitterverse reacted with its usual calm to criticism of Bitcoin (Photo: Klaus Hausmann/Pixabay & FreePNG)
    Cryptocurrencies,  United States

    NY Fed: Bitcoin is not a new type of money. Crypto: Get the tar and feathers!

    “Ignorance” and “incompetence” were two of the more polite replies after a blog post by the New York Federal Reserve Bank last week argued “Bitcoin is not a new type of money”

    June 22, 2020 /

    When the Federal Reserve Bank of New York published a blog post with the headline “Bitcoin Is Not a New Type of Money,” the authors may have hoped their thought-provoking piece would inspire genteel, reasoned debate. But probably not.

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  • 1.5 billion to use digital currency by 2023
    General purpose CBDCs would replace notes and coins. (Photo: iStock)
    Cryptocurrencies

    A fifth of the world’s population to use CBDCs in 3 years, says BIS

    The Bank for International Settlements surveyed 66 of the world’s central banks

    January 24, 2020 /

    The Bank for International Settlements, a consortium of banks based in Basel, Switzerland, polled 66 central banks last year. The results? One fifth of the world's population will use central bank digital currencies by 2023. CBDCs are a new type of digital money. They can be used for interbank settlements or as a type of general purpose “digital cash,” meant as a stand in for regular bank notes.

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  • China: We don't need all these paper yuan. Let's make some digital.
    Cryptocurrencies,  Technology

    China completes digital yuan design

    The People’s Bank of China says it has completed the ‘top-level design’ and joint testing of its forthcoming central bank digital currency 

    January 10, 2020 /

    The next steps in the country’s digital currency/electronic payment, or DC/EP, project—which it has been hammering away at for five years—are to “follow the principles of stability, security and control” and to “select pilot verification areas, scenarios and service scopes,” said Mu Changchun, the head of the PBOC’s digital currency research institute.

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