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by tingletech 1884 days ago
with a Federal Reserve Digital Dollar, at least under one proposal, the Fed could, as a matter of monetary policy, just create new dollars directly into everyone's personal Federal Reserve account. Most of the money they created here is still just sitting in big banks and isn't moving around so it does not really add to the velocity of money. If they could hand out all the new money to everyone with like a federal venmo app with USD stable coins that you can convert to cash at an ATM, then maybe they would have another lever to try to meet their 2% inflation goal.
1 comments
arcticbull 1884 days ago
> Most of the money they created here is still just sitting in big banks and isn't moving around so it does not really add to the velocity of money.

I agree that establishing a direct relationship between the Fed and individuals could be a better way to stimulate the economy than expanding the availability and demand for loans and buying bonds, but does it have to be done on the blockchain? Couldn't it simply be handed like any government account, and keyed to, for instance, your SSN? You can then transfer it via ACH/RTP or FedWire to your bank account.

I'm open to the idea that a CBDC could be an interesting innovation I'm just not entirely sure what the specific benefit would be here, and would be interested in your opinion.

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Qworg 1884 days ago
There's a chunk of Americans who don't have bank accounts (or could work a government account online), so standard methods may not work for 100% of the population.

Also, the Fed is very leery of destroying commercial banking in the US via postal banking or a direct CBDC - I'd expect (if we ever do go that way) for there to a hybrid model. Under that system, banks provide the services to support a digital dollar, while the Fed works through them.

As for "why blockchain" - there's no real reason if the Fed is going to do the work/be the source of trust.

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toomuchtodo 1884 days ago
You’d have a traditional deposit account at the Fed. You might even have different types of dollars in your account, one traditional, one “helicoptered” from the Fed they inject, ad hoc or on a cadence, with an expiration date (“use it or lose it”).

https://greatdemocracyinitiative.org/document/central-bankin...

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