Parachute Pants and Central Bank Money
US Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Randal K. Quarles is not a big fan of a digital dollar: “First, the U.S. dollar payment system is very good, and it is getting better. Second, the potential benefits of a Federal Reserve central bank digital currency (CBDC) are unclear. Third, developing a CBDC could pose considerable risks.”
Salvadorans will not be forced to use the government’s Bitcoin wallet
El Salvador’s citizens will not be forced to use the government-issued Chivo (“Cool”) Bitcoin wallet when the country’s Bitcoin (BTC) law takes effect on September 7. The Chivo wallet will not incur fees or commissions for transfers, and unlike traditional crypto exchanges, it will not take a cut for converting BTC to USD and vice versa, plus, unlike credit cards, there will be no commissions charged to merchants or users. Also, the $30 government BTC handout announced on June 25 would not be convertible into USD, to emphasize the government’s intention to encourage the use of Bitcoin and the Chivo wallet. But any money held in USD or BTC in the Chivo wallet will be able to be withdrawn into USD cash at any time once the government has completed its roll-out of 200 new physical Bitcoin ATM branches.
*For those interested in intra-day updates and news that didn’t make the Daily Digest cut, please check out my Diigo fintech bookmarks: https://www.diigo.com/user/kiffmeister/Fintech
