The Federal Reserve Announces Its First Big Step Towards a Digital Dollar ( mark of the Beast)

The Federal Reserve Bank of the United States has announced that it is launching an instant payment transfer service called “FedNow Service,” which has features of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) and some analysts believe is the first big step towards a “digital dollar.”

On Wednesday, within hours of our reporting that the Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank failures could spur renewed calls for the U.S. to implement a CBDC, the Federal Reserve announced that the U.S. is rolling out the FedNow instant payment transfer service in July

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“The Federal Reserve announced that the FedNow Service will start operating in July and provided details on preparations for launch,” the announcement read.

“We couldn’t be more excited about the forthcoming FedNow launch, which will enable every participating financial institution, the smallest to the largest and from all corners of the country, to offer a modern instant payment solution,” said Ken Montgomery, first vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and FedNow program executive. “With the launch drawing near, we urge financial institutions and their industry partners to move full steam ahead with preparations to join the FedNow Service.”

The Fed added that the FedNow Service “will launch with a robust set of core clearing and settlement functionality and value-added features. More features and enhancements will be added in future releases to continue supporting safety, resiliency and innovation in the industry as the FedNow network expands in the coming years.”


“With the FedNow Service, the Federal Reserve is creating a leading-edge payments system that is resilient, adaptive, and accessible,” said Tom Barkin, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond and FedNow Program executive sponsor. “The launch reflects an important milestone in the journey to help financial institutions serve customer needs for instant payments to better support nearly every aspect of our economy.”

The Federal Reserve says that it developed the FedNow Service “to facilitate nationwide reach of instant payment services by financial institutions — regardless of size or geographic location — around the clock, every day of the year.”

you mean like wire transfers or internet banking ????

“Through financial institutions participating in the FedNow Service, businesses and individuals will be able to send and receive instant payments at any time of day, and recipients will have full access to funds immediately, giving them greater flexibility to manage their money and make time-sensitive payments,” The Fed said. “Access will be provided through the Federal Reserve’s FedLine® network, which serves more than 10,000 financial institutions directly or through their agents.”

As noted by Steve Kaaru of CoinGeek, FedNow has been in the works since 2019 and is “touted to be the fastest way to make payments by financial institutions in the U.S. around the clock, every day of the year. Banks, payment services, and individual users will receive and have instant access to payments made through the service.”

The report added that FedNow will “address a challenge that has plagued the financial industry worldwide for several decades: facilitating instant payments. Various players have come up with their own solutions, such as VISA (NASDAQ: V) and Mastercard (NASDAQ: MA), which have Direct and Send, respectively, to enable real-time payments.” 
WE COULD FIX THAT WITHOUT CBDC

It points out that in the U.S., a collective of banks and payment processors known as The Clearing House runs real-time payments, adding that one of the emerging solutions to this challenge has been central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) to facilitate real-time payments. In the U.S., Fed chair Jerome Powell has dismissed the need for a digital dollar, and FedNow is his response to the call for a CBDC.

“The jury is still out on whether FedNow will be a forerunner for the digital dollar or impede the CBDC’s progress in the world’s largest economy,” Kaaru remarked. “For now, what’s clear is that it will change the payments landscape in the U.S.”

In December, Norbert Michel of the Cato Institute argued that the Federal Reserve should drop FedNow and any plans to launch a CBDC.

“Just like FedNow, CBDCs should be left on the drawing board,” Michel argued. “Both usurp the private sector. Supporters of both ignore the many harms that the government has already done to financial markets and assume that the government will provide better solutions this time.

“If Congress really wants to provide more access to financial markets and ensure more innovation in financial services, members should support more private innovation and competition,” he added. “At the very least, they should work to lessen government monopoly and regulation while ensuring that the Fed cannot issue a retail CBDC. Then they can start getting the government out of the payments system business.”

While there is currently no imminent plan for the Fed to implement a “digital dollar,” a House bill was filed in 2022 to authorize the Treasury to create one. Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) was joined by four other members of Congress in filing the bill: Jesús Chuy Garcia, (D-IL), Ayanna Pressley, (D-MA), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI). NUFF SAID

“The electronic dollar, a virtual representation of a US dollar, would allow people to make payments using tokens on mobile phones or through cards versus cash,” Lucas Mearian of Computer World reported on the legislation. YOU MEAN LIKE CASH AND DEBIT CARDS??? TELL ME HOW THIS ISNT ABOUT CONTROL AND MARK OF THE BEAST

“ECASH (electronic cash), as the bill calls it, would be a bearer instrument that wouldn’t require payment processing intermediaries, such as SWIFT, the world’s largest payment messaging network,” the report noted. “That means payments using ECASH would be near instantaneous — even across national borders — and processing fees would likely be dramatically reduced.”

In March 2022, President Joe Biden issued an executive order calling for more research on developing a national digital currency through the Federal Reserve Bank or “The Fed.”

The Executive Order called for the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department to “Explore a U.S. Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) by placing urgency on research and development of a potential United States CBDC, should issuance be deemed in the national interest. The Order directs the U.S. Government to assess the technological infrastructure and capacity needs for a potential U.S. CBDC in a manner that protects Americans’ interests. The Order also encourages the Federal Reserve to continue its research, development, and assessment efforts for a U.S. CBDC, including development of a plan for broader U.S. Government action in support of their work. This effort prioritizes U.S. participation in multi-country experimentation, and ensures U.S. leadership internationally to promote CBDC development that is consistent with U.S. priorities and democratic values.”

The Federal Reserve Bank is still exploring the development of CBDCs. 11 nations thus far have implemented CBDCs, according to the Atlantic Council’s tracker.

The World Economic Forum supports the implementation of CBDCs to promote more inclusion and stability in the global digital economy. It cites America’s central bank, the Federal Reserve, as saying that if CBDC were to be introduced, it would be “the safest digital asset available to the general public, with no associated credit or liquidity risk.”

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h/t Coastie Patriot

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