dChan - Q Origins Project Archive

US Launching Five Digital Dollar Pilot Programs

By now it's common knowledge that China is leaps and bounds ahead of all other central banks in launching a CBDC, or Central Bank Digital Currency (which Beijing vows is not a challenge to the reserve status of the US Dollar, but is precisely that), however the US is doing everything it can to keep up. And while one wouldn't get the sense of urgency if one listened to either the Fed chair or the NY Fed president today...

*POWELL SAYS HAVE NOT DECIDED WHETHER TO ISSUE A DIGITAL CURRENCY

and if you believe that you don't remember fedcoin or the amero

*WILLIAMS SAYS FED IS STUDYING CENTRAL BANK DIGITAL CURRENCIES ACTIVELY AND IS NOT IN A RACE

According to Reuters, the private-sector pilots which hope to recreate similar tests held in China last year, will initially be funded by Accenture and involve financial firms, retailers and NGOs, among others. The aim is simple: to generate data that could help U.S. policymakers develop a digital dollar.

Why Accenture, formerly known as Arthur Andersen of Enron fame? Because a partnership between Accenture and the Digital Dollar Foundation, the Digital Dollar Project was created last year to promote research into a U.S. central bank digital currency (CBDC). “There are conferences and papers coming out every week around the world on CBDCs based on data from other countries,” said Christopher Giancarlo, former chair of the CFTC and co-founder of the Digital Dollar Foundation. “What there is not, is any real data and testing from the United States to inform that debate. We’re seeking to generate that real-world data,” Giancarlo added. This means that over the next 12 months, a select group of Americans will have the "honor" of transacting with the next evolutionary US currency - the digital dollar.

As discussed here extensively in recent years, CBDCs are the digital equivalent of banknotes and coins, giving holders a direct digital claim on the central bank and allowing them to make instant electronic payments. On the other hand, digital currencies allow central banks to track every single transaction in real-time, to identify the holder of the currency and - when the time comes - to "expire" it. As a reminder, last month we reported that China's digiral yuan "is programmable. Beijing has tested expiration dates to encourage users to spend it quickly, for times when the economy needs a jump start." The Fed's digital dollar will have this functionality too, as well as many more, most notably allowing the central bank to deposit digital dollar in any bank account of its choosing to create targeted inflation by selectively funding those who are most likely to spend rather than save (hence the relentless campaign to convince the US population that minorities deserve reparations).

Unlike Beijing, the U.S. Federal Reserve has said it wants to move more cautiously. It has been working with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to build a technology platform for a hypothetical digital dollar, but chair Jerome Powell said last week that it is “far more important” to get a digital dollar right than it is to be fast. However, it now appears that speed is emerging as a key variable as well. Giancarlo said Powell was correct to be cautious but that as China pushes ahead, the United States must drive a discussion on incorporating U.S. values such as privacy and freedom of commerce and speech into the development of CBDCs. “It’s vital that the U.S. asserts leadership as it has in previous technological innovations,” Giancarlo added.

Giancarlo also gave the trite BS reason why the US "needs" a digital currency, as it could also boost financial inclusion in the United States, where transaction fees impede the access of many Americans to mainstream financial services. Because so many Americans lament their inability to the dollar as it stands now due to high "transaction fees." The pilot programs, three of which will launch in the next two months, will complement the Fed’s MIT project by generating data on the functional, sociological, business uses, benefits and other facets, of a digital dollar. The data is due to be released publicly. According to Reuters, Accenture has previously worked on a number of CBDC projects including in Canada, Singapore and France. David Treat, a senior managing director at Accenture, said CBDCs would exist alongside other forms of physical and electronic money, rather than replace them. “It’s not a panacea for all money,” Treat said. “We will be using physical cash and coin for some time.”

Sure we will... until one day the government pulls an FDR executive order 6102 and confiscates all non-digital currencies.

https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/us-launching-five-digital-dollar-pilot-programs

Commodity Rally Puts Focus on Key Correlations to Watch

The rally in commodity prices is bolstering the outlook for emerging-market currencies but the backdrop it provides for stocks is more nuanced due to the risks from higher inflation, strategists said.

The Bloomberg Commodity Spot Index is at the highest level since 2012 and more gains are expected as the world pulls out of the pandemic. The trend is a big help for some emerging-market currencies, Bloomberg Intelligence’s Gaurav Patankar said. Societe Generale SA said the climb signals economic strength that overall supports stocks despite risks to profit margins. The cost of everything from copper to corn has surged, adding to inflationary pressures and forcing investors to weigh up the implications for other assets. Complicating the outlook is the possibility that further big jumps may lead policy makers to taper the exceptional stimulus buoying markets in general.

The Bloomberg index of commodities is up 65% over the past year, while a gauge of global stocks has advanced 48% and the MSCI Emerging Markets Currency Index some 10%. Vaccine rollouts and government policy support are stoking the global economic recovery.

The raw materials index and the currency gauge are moving in tandem more now than at the start of 2021, when a measure of 30-day correlation between the two came close to turning negative. In contrast, the correlation between global stocks and commodities is declining.

Still, the traditional though sometimes disputed role of equities as an inflation hedge continues to draw strategists and investors. In bonds, benchmark 10-year Treasury yields have climbed more than 70 basis points this year. But the debt selloff paused in April despite a strong month for commodities, as investors mulled whether price pressures will be transitory-ummmm...they won't be.

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/commodity-rally-puts-focus-on-key-correlations-to-watch-1.1598775