Members of Congress Fear US CBDC Will Kill All Other Cryptocurrencies

US CBDC Late to the Party

The Congressman's comments show that the US is lagging behind other countries in the race to launch CBDCs. Currently, 11 countries have launched CBDC and around 90 countries are developing or researching CBDC. This delay could have a significant impact on future US economic competitiveness.

Fed Chairman Jay Powell noted that the Fed has yet to decide whether the US needs a CBDC. This begs the question as to why so many other countries are using digital currencies. But given the potential benefits, it's hard to see why the United States shouldn’t. CBDC will improve financial inclusion and efficiency and speed up cross-border transactions.

wCBDC Market Already Under Development

Retail CBDC does not appear to be a priority for the Fed at a time when the central bank is already developing a wholesale version (wCBDC). wCBDC will be limited to transactions between banks and will not be open to the public. The announcement of the development led to speculation about the potential impact of cryptocurrencies particularly Bitcoin.

The Cedar Project white paper outlines the goals of the wCBDC initiative. The project aims to increase the efficiency of the Wolf payment system by reducing settlement times and minimising counterparty risk. Although a wCBDC will not be executable for clients it will still have a significant impact on the wider cryptocurrency market.of this competition depends on many factors including the perceived benefits of each technology and the regulatory environment in which it operates.