Share this article
Federal Reserve’s Powell Says CBDCs ‘Need to Coexist With Cash’
The Fed chairman spoke at a virtual payments conference hosted by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision.
Updated May 9, 2023, 3:17 a.m. Published Mar 18, 2021, 6:17 p.m.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Thursday central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) will need to coexist with cash.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
Speaking at a virtual payments conference hosted by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, Powell cited a report on CBDCs from the Bank for International Settlements and a group of seven central banks, including the Fed.
“One of the three key principles highlighted in the report is that a CBDC needs to coexist with cash and other types of money in a flexible and innovative payment system,” Powell said. “Improvements in the global payments system will come not just from the public sector but from the private sector as well.”
Powell added the Fed Board of Governors is conducting experiments on CBDCs along with the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, which is working researchers at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
In recent months, Powell has emphasized several times that the U.S. would not act fast on issuing a digital dollar because of the physical dollar’s status as the global reserve currency.
The latest comment, though, is in line with Powell’s previous remarks about the Fed taking the prospects for a digital dollar seriously. Powell has said the Fed will engage with the public on the topic in 2021 and will seek congressional approval before issuing one.
CBDCs are an early-stage payments innovation that governments hope can increase payments efficiency and lower costs by running them on blockchains. The details on CBDCs are still murky, and detractors argue most transactions today involve money that’s already digital.
There’s a fear some governments may use CBDCs for increased financial surveillance. At the moment, it looks like the U.S. could favor privacy in its CBDC development.
Mehr für Sie
Was Sie wissen sollten:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
Mehr für Sie
VanEck's new Avalanche ETF filing to include staking rewards for AVAX investors
The fund will use Coinbase Crypto Services as its initial staking provider and pay a 4% service fee, with rewards accruing to the fund and reflected in its net asset value.
Was Sie wissen sollten:
- VanEck has updated its filing for an Avalanche ETF, VAVX, to include staking rewards, aiming to generate income for investors by staking up to 70% of its AVAX holdings.
- The fund will use Coinbase Crypto Services as its initial staking provider and pay a 4% service fee, with rewards accruing to the fund and reflected in its net asset value.
- If approved, the fund will trade on Nasdaq under the ticker VAVX, tracking AVAX's price via a custom index, and will be custodied with regulated providers, including Anchorage Digital and Coinbase Custody.
Top Stories
