The U.S. is gingerly considering whether to adopt a digital version of its currency, one better suited for today's increasingly cashless world, ushering in what could be one of the dollar's most fundamental transformations.
A shopper pays cash for sales merchandise on Dec. 26, 2000 in Austin, Texas. The Federal Reserve is considering whether to adopt a digital version of the dollar, in what would amount to a fundamental rethink of our national currency.
We could then use them to pay for things, just like we do with Venmo or Apple Pay, and no actual physical money would change hands. And at each step of the way, there are transaction fees. In 2020, they added up to more than $110 billion, which were generally shouldered by businesses. In China, adoption of the e-renminbi has been slow given that private providers such as WeChat or Alipay are already pretty popular and entrenched.Another argument for creating a digital dollar is to open up digital transactions to Americans who don't have bank accounts. According to the Fed, more than 5% of U.S. households are"unbanked."
Cybersecurity is another critical issue, especially given the uptick in hacks and heists at cryptocurrency exchanges for example.
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