- US Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs had announced that they will isolately conduct a hearing on the topic ‘The Digitalization of Money and Payments’.
- Sources have suggested that is another sequel to a similar hearing held in the House of Representatives by the FinTech Task Force, a couple of weeks ago.
- The centre of attraction of this hearing was the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).
Recently, the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs had announced that they will isolately conduct a hearing on the topic ‘The Digitalization of Money and Payments’. They have also enlisted the witnesses to the hearing which included the J.Christopher Giancarlo who is the senior counsel to the Willkie Farr and Gallagher LLP. Charles Cascarilla, the CEO and the co-founder of Paxos ans lastly Professor Nakita Q. Cuttino who is the visiting assistant professor to the Duke University School of Law.
Sequel To The Recent Hearing By The Fintech Task Force
Sources have suggested that is another sequel to a similar hearing held in the House of Representatives by the FinTech Task Force, a couple of weeks ago.
According to the guidelines provided by the CDC and OAP, other than the official business visitors and the approved press and media no one were allowed in the premises of the Senate office buildings. However, for the public the Committee’s livestream was available on its official site.
CBDC Main Focus Throughout The Meeting
The centre of attraction of this hearing was the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). Most of the questions raised by the Senators were based on the firstly the international status of the US Dollar. Secondly the whether or not the CBDC would incorporate the users not having banking services at all. The users not having a mainstream access to the financial services. Senator Mike Crapo who was the Committee chair said that such innovations are inevitable and in a way beneficial to the US. That they must continue to lead in the development of these technologies. Apart from all these, the issues user privacy and security were also addressed and serious steps were taken for resolving them.
International Stress On Us Dollar And Digitization Of Trades
Senator Crapo stressed on what other central banks were doing and whether it would pose danger to the current value of the US Dollar. Most of the commodities have shifted to the digital platform for example the Oil trading, there is the VAKT blockchain. Similarly for agriculture businesses there is Covantis, for metallurgy industries there are ForceField and Minehub. However, when it came to the financial inclusion topic, the debate didn’t really favour the CBDC.
However the committee was keen at finding ways and resources to make CBDC an actual thing. The Paxos CEO suggested three steps for the quicker implementation of the CBDC: Firstly, the need of a regulation emphasising the EU e-money license. Next, the access of the transaction system even to the non bank payment service provider which included licensed FinTechs. And finally, fund pilots in order to unleash the true potential of the digital dollar.
Steve Anderson is an Australian crypto enthusiast. He is a specialist in management and trading for over 5 years. Steve has worked as a crypto trader, he loves learning about decentralisation, understanding the true potential of the blockchain.