Photographer: Al Drago / The New York Times / Bloomberg
Photographer: Al Drago / The New York Times / Bloomberg
The potential central bank’s digital currencies would need to be integrated into existing payment systems, along with cash and other forms of cash, said Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
“A recent report by the Bank for International Settlements and a group of seven central banks, which includes the Fed, assessed the viability of CBDCs in helping central banks meet their public policy objectives,” Powell said on Thursday in comments at pre-recorded video delivered to a conference payment system in Basel, Switzerland.
“Relevant to today’s topic, one of the three key principles highlighted in the report is that a CBDC needs to coexist with cash and other types of money in a flexible and innovative payment system,” said Powell.
The Fed chairman made the closing speech at a conference organized by the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures, a group of central bankers from around the world convened by the BIS.
“The Covid crisis has brought an even greater focus to the need to address the limitations of our current international payment agreements,” said Powell. “And as this conference amply demonstrates, despite the challenges of the past year, we have still been able to make important progress.”