Christopher Giancarlo, former chairman of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), is leading a non-profit initiative that aims to promote the digital dollar, The Wall Street Journal reports. Giancarlo said:
"The proposed digital dollar would be a tokenized form of the U.S. currency, which would work with other existing Fed liabilities but act as a digital settlement medium. The digital dollar would “meet the demands of the new digital world and a cheaper, faster and more inclusive global financial system."
Other participants in the project are former LabCFTC Director Daniel Gorfine, Christopher's brother Charles Giancarlo and private-equity firm Silver Lake Partners. All participants in the project hope to create a "fully electronic currency based on blockchain tech."
According to the project's authors, making transactions with the digital dollar should be as simple as sending a text message.
The news came out shortly after it was known China is working on the development of its own national digital currency.
China has said the design of the currency is now complete. However, it does not have a fixed launch date yet. One of the digital yuan's main features is that users will not need a traditional bank account to transfer it.
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