Talks moving forward on how to implement central bank digital currency, Treasury official says

Talks over a possible central bank digital currency (CBDC) will be held in coming months among leaders from key federal offices, including the White House, banking regulators and economic analysts, the Treasury’s top regulator of financial institutions said Wednesday.

Treasury Under Secretary for Domestic Finance Nellie Liang told the Atlantic Council in a speech that the discussion are meant to address a possible CBDC and other payments innovations. She said that, to support the discussions, the CBDC Working Group is developing an initial set of findings and recommendations.

She said discussion participants include Treasury, the Federal Reserve, and White House offices, including the Council of Economic Advisors, National Economic Council, National Security Council, and Office of Science and Technology Policy

“These may relate to whether a U.S. CBDC would help to advance the policy objectives described above; the features that a U.S. CBDC would need to advance these objectives; options for resolving CBDC design trade-offs; and areas where additional technological R&D would be useful,” Liang said.

Remarks by Under Secretary for Domestic Finance Nellie Liang at the Atlantic Council on the Next Steps in the Future of Money and Payments