The Fed Is Preparing to End Money as We Know It
Big Banks, FedNow, and the Road to Fedcoin
Every quarter, U.S. Bancorp (USB) releases something called U.S. Bank CFO Insights Report. It gathers insights from over 2,000 senior finance officers (CFOs) nationwide. It might not be everyone’s go-to read, but it’s a good way to stay abreast of what’s happening in the banking industry.
Just a few days ago, they dropped the latest issue, and something immediately grabbed my attention — the survey findings on FedNow, the Federal Reserve’s new real-time payments service.
The report showed that 42% of surveyed CFOs had tried out FedNow in 2023. Right now, 51% are using it, and notably, a staggering 80% plan to use it by 2026.
In other words, nearly double the number of finance leaders anticipate using FedNow in their organizations by 2026 as they did in 2023.
I’m talking about a currency that wouldn’t be printed but would only exist in cyberspace… but one that would also give the Fed and government almost unbreakable financial control over your life.
Now, FedNow isn’t a central bank digital currency (CBDC). But it’s definitely a precursor to one.
Let’s backtrack a bit to understand why.
The FedPal
You see, the Fed and big banks have been gearing up for the eventual rollout of a digital dollar for quite some time now.
As far back as 2017, a consortium including finance giants like Citigroup and JPMorgan initiated a real-time payments network operated by The Clearing House, known as the RTP Network.
This network processed a total of 173 million transactions worth about $76 billion during 2022.
The idea behind the RTP Network has always been to lay the technical groundwork and foster a culture of acceptance for a digital currency. The big banks made no secret of it.
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