Crypto Week: Congress Hits the Accelerator and the Brake at the Same Time
But careful, passions run high on this topic
My contribution to today’s FT Alphaville on Central Bank Digital Currencies has generated plenty of heat in the comments section today as ‘Crypto Week’ comes to a close in Washington. I probably should have known better than to wade into a conversation that triggers passionate outbursts on all sides. Nevertheless, it has always seemed Luddite to me that we should prohibit - by law - any efforts to explore a promising technology that the rest of the world is about to embrace.
As I write:
“The US Congress takes another step towards American “exceptionalism” this week — and not the good kind.
“Amid the package of crypto bills that should head to the president’s desk in a few days lurks a ban on a digital dollar. With 72 other countries developing or launching a central bank digital currency and another 35 studying the proposition, what does America’s legislature understand that all these others do not?
“The shame is that this prohibition on a central bank digital currency (CBDC) for the dollar comes as part of a mostly constructive framework for an industry that’s about to transform modern financial services. It’s as if Congress decided to hit the accelerator and the brake at the same time.”
You can find the full article here.
https://on.ft.com/40sf2Up
And you won’t want to miss the comments it generated…