Cato Institute Says Major Commenters are Against the CBDC Idea
- According to the research, business-inclined comments have expressed a positive view of the idea of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).
The Federal Reserve’s proposal for a central bank digital currency (CBDC) seems to have triggered concerns among the public, as the majority have expressed opposing opinions on the matter.
The Federal Reserve had recently invited the public to comment on their take on the idea of a digital dollar in the United States. With respect to this, the Cato Institute said it has critically observed more than 2,000 responses to the U.S. Federal Reserve’s invitation.
According to the firm, it has been able to deduce that two-thirds of the public comments are in objection to the idea.
The Future of CBDC
As disclosed via a blog post on Wednesday, the total comments were about 2052, with over 66 percent of the comments reflecting a negative view of CBDC. It further revealed that most of the opposing comments were backed up with concerns over financial privacy, financial oppression, and the risk of disintermediating the nation’s financial system.
Although, the majority of the comments reflect a negative view of the idea of a digital dollar in the country. The research also disclosed that a number of comments have alternately expressed absolute approval of a digital dollar.
According to the research, business-inclined comments have expressed a positive view of the idea of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). These supportive interests for a digital dollar came mostly from businesses working in finance, technology, and regulatory compliance.
The Cato policy analyst, Nicholas Anthony, who compiled the statistics commented on this saying;
“The fact that two-thirds of the over 2,000 commenters are pushing back against the idea of a CBDC shows not only that this is not the niche issue it once was a few years ago, but also that Americans recognize the very real risk a CBDC could pose to their financial freedom.”
Furthermore, the analysis disclosed that most of the positive comments were birthed from the belief that the initiation of a CBDC could serve as a national-security benefit in the race against foreign competitors. Further noting that they can as well reduce the environmental costs from the production of paper currency and improve trust in the monetary system by making it more transparent.
However, it appears that the majority still stand on a NO to the idea of a digital dollar as some businesses have disclosed that they were not in agreement with the plan. These disagreements came from businesses like banks and credit unions as they questioned the Fed’s motivations in their letters.
These banks and credit unions backed their opinions pointing out that there are no unique benefits evident that justify the launch of a CBDC.
“While there are no doubt opportunities for improvement, we believe most, if not all, [of these opportunities] can be addressed by innovations in the current financial services framework and through continued public‐private partnerships, without the introduction of a novel digital currency that could destabilize the system,” the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) explained in their response.
Rebecca is a Senior Staff Writer at BitcoinWisdom, working hard to bring you the latest breaking news in the cryptocurrency market. In the words of Elon Musk “Buy stock in several companies that make products & services that *you* believe in. Only sell if you think their products & services are trending worse. Don’t panic when the market does. This will serve you well in the long-term.”
