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posted by martyb on Thursday January 23 2020, @09:59AM   Printer-friendly
from the all-the-better-to-track-you-with dept.

The former chair of the Commodity Future Trading Commission (CFTC) has partnered with Accenture to create the non-profit Digital Dollar Project, which plans to explore the creation of a U.S. Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).

“The digital 21st century is underserved by an analogue reserve currency,” said Chris Giancarlo, former CFTC chair under Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump. “A digital dollar would help future-proof the greenback and allow individuals and global enterprises to make payments in dollars irrespective of space and time.

The purpose of the Digital Dollar Project is to encourage research and public discussion on the potential advantages of a digital dollar, convene private sector thought leaders and actors, and propose possible models to support the public sector. The Project will develop a framework for practical steps that can be taken to establish a dollar-based CBDC.

A cryptocurrency backed by a fiat cash is known as a stablecoin.

A “tokenized” U.S. currency would coexist with other Federal Reserve liabilities and serve as a settlement medium to meet the demands of the digital world and a cheaper, faster and more inclusive global financial system, Giancarlo added in a statement.

[...] The U.S. dollar is the world’s “reserve currency” because it represents about 58% of all foreign exchange reserves in the world, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Additionally, 40% of the world’s debt is denominated in dollars.

Some experts believe the U.S. dollar could fall behind as the defacto ecommerce currency if other nations launch state-sponsored stablecoin first.


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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by bradley13 on Thursday January 23 2020, @11:34AM (5 children)

    by bradley13 (3053) on Thursday January 23 2020, @11:34AM (#947340) Homepage Journal

    The EU is also considering something like this. This opens up a number of fundamental questions:

    - What are the goals of such a currency? Consider that e-Dollars and e-Euros effectively already exist: huge quantities of money are transferred electronically all the time. Including by consumers, by using their debit cards. So what is missing from the current electronic currencies that a new solution would add? The software engineer in me says: You need a solid analysis of the functional requirements before you hare off after a solution.

    - What technology should be used? Blockchains make the most sense for distributed solutions, where there is no central, controlling entity. For e-Dollars, presumably the Fed will want to retain ultimate control. The ECB will want control of the e-Euro. So blockchains, or indeed any sort of cryptocurrency may or may not be the best solution. What alternatives are there? The choice of technology will be influenced by the non-functional requirements: central control and...what else?

    I haven't yet seen any sort of discussion of these issues. Maybe governments have some secret reports with this information? Not that there is any reason to keep them secret...

    As a closing note: Central governments have (in my anarchistic opinion) too much power. The Internet provided us with an opportunity to reduce this power, but we failed: look at all the successful censorship being put in place by Russia, Turkey, China and other countries. Cryptocurrencies provided us with yet another opportunity to create an alternative centralized, government control. Looks like we have failed again...

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 23 2020, @12:33PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 23 2020, @12:33PM (#947349)

    Bitcoin is chugging along just fine. There is no reason for a centrally controlled cryptocurrency, since the central controller will just manipulate it.

  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 23 2020, @01:01PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 23 2020, @01:01PM (#947357)

    I too hope they would use a decentralized blockchain type ledger for transfers, but something tells me they would want more control and oversight. Kinda the whole Revelation 13:17 thing. But I don't think that matters too much. Humans always find a way around whether bartering or making another blockchain style currency to run around something central. Black markets will always exist for when you need to make a more private transaction.

    And I wholeheartedly agree with you on having lost control of the Internet. "Without the ability to talk about government power, there's no way for citizens to make sure this power isn't being misused." -Aaron Swartz

  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday January 23 2020, @01:15PM

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday January 23 2020, @01:15PM (#947364) Journal
    Perhaps they would just end the use of paper currency and change little else. As you say, the money already exists.
  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 23 2020, @01:45PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 23 2020, @01:45PM (#947371)

    What problem are they trying to fix?

    Staying relevant, keeping control of the currency, perhaps making money on transition to new money.

    What features are missing from the current banking system that crypto currencies offer?

    1) Near zero transaction cost
    2) Near instant non-reversable transactions where both parties know if they happened or not.
    3) Publically auditable transaction log.
    4) Anonomous 'accounts' in the transaction log created without interaction with a 'bank'.
    5) Remote access anywhere there is communications.
    6) Trust of some party to implement a mixer function to further hide account holder.
    7) Defined rules for the creation of money separate from governments and their politics.
    8) Limited ability of any single party to control of the system.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 24 2020, @12:09AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 24 2020, @12:09AM (#947688)

    The Internet provided us with an opportunity to reduce this power, but we failed: look at all the successful censorship being put in place by Russia, Turkey, China and other countries.

    You have the same power of expression on the Internet that you had in 1998. At pretty much the same price: tech knowledge.

    The difference:
    - in 1998, you needed to know how to setup your site. Now, if you live in Russia/China/etc, you need to know how to tunnel the firewall; otherwise it's still the 'setup your website and you have the soapbox to stand on while speaking'.
    - in 1998, you 'listeners' needed to have internet access. Now, you need to know how to make your voice distinctive in the cacaphony.

    And, no, YouTube demonetizing you is not censorship - freedom of speech doesn't include 'the right to earn your living from your speech'