Fed evaluating benefits of digital currency: Powell
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell talks digital currencies before the IMF. Yahoo Finance reporter Brian Cheung has the details.
Video Transcript
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JULIE HYMAN: It's time for Word on the Street. We're going to check in with our panelists, find out what stories they are watching. Jay Powell, the Fed chair, of course, spoke this morning about digital currencies. Brian Cheung, what did he have to say?
BRIAN CHEUNG: Well, usually, all eyes and ears are on the Federal Reserve chairman whenever he speaks because of any sort of commentary on monetary policy. But the Fed chairman, as you mentioned, making an appearance this morning at an International Monetary Fund event, talking about specifically digital currency, specifically central bank issued digital currencies, and the possibility of the Federal Reserve launching its own digital US dollar.
The Fed chairman saying that he's open to collaborating with the private sector on developing such a what they call CBDC. But he reiterated that the central bank isn't necessarily committed to actually launching one, merely that they're just doing research into it.
He said, quote, "We will have lots of conversations with industry and stakeholder engagement, and that'll help us in our work on digital currencies and cross-border payments." So the Fed chairman pretty much saying that yes, we're looking at the possibility of having some sort of a US digital dollar, but that we're not necessarily going to commit to launching it at this time.
JULIE HYMAN: All right. Thanks, Brian.
