We talked last month about the building conversations in Washington about a central bank-backed digital currency (CBDC).
The Fed Chair just spent two days on Capitol Hill giving testimony on the state of the economy and the digital currency topic was addressed both days.
The Fed is due to deliver a report in early September, Powell says, on the risks and benefits of adopting a CBDC. As we discussed in June, this looks like it's coming, it was a hot topic at the G7 meetings last month. The Senate Banking committee held a hearing on it last month, with expert witnesses arguing the benefits of CBDCs, whilst the Bank for International Settlements (the BIS, a consortium of the world's top central banks) has promoted CBDCs as "the future of the monetary system."
This issue will probably be the determining factor on whether or not Jay Powell is reappointed - if he's for it, he probably stays Fed Chair.
Just as the "build back better" and clean energy transformation is an agenda highly coordinated by major global economic powers, so is the concept of CBDCs. The BIS consists of 63 global central banks, and nearly 90% of them are having conversations about adopting a CBDC.
Among the many risks of global central banks going to digital money: privacy and consumer protections. It’s a good time to own some gold.