MNI BRIEF: White House Prepares For Possible Digital Dollar

Officials across the Biden administration in a series of reports are recommending advancing further work on policy and technical issues so that the United States is in a position to issue a central bank digital currency should it be determined in the national interest.

The nine reports submitted to the President to date and led by the Treasury Department stop short of coming to a decision in whether to issue a central bank digital currency and say the government should only take the final step if there’s sign-off that it is in the national interest. The reports encourage the Federal Reserve to continue its ongoing CBDC research, experimentation, and evaluation and call for the creation of a Treasury-led interagency working group to support the Fed’s efforts.

"The Administration encourages the Federal Reserve to continue its research and experimentation," said NEC director Brian Deese and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in a statement. President Joe Biden’s executive order this past March recommended exploration of a CBDC. A number of Fed officials have expressed skepticism of the need to issue a digital dollar and the Fed has emphasized it does not intend to proceed with a CBDC without clear support from the executive branch and from Congress, "ideally in the form of a specific authorizing law." The Biden administration continues to work with Congress on legislation, said senior administration officials on a call Thursday.