- Saundra B.
FEDNOW: Digital Currency for Americans?
Updated: Apr 7
You may have heard about a new program that the Federal Reserve is rolling out. The Pilot program began on April 4, 2023 and the full launch is scheduled for July 2023. The program is called FedNow.
FedNow is a new payment system the Federal Reserve launched on Tuesday, April 2, 2023. Here is the link to the official FedNow announcement and you can visit the Official FedNow Website
In their March 15, 2023 Press Release, the Federal Reserve has announced that this as a simple platform that supports instant payments 24x7x365. According to this publication, access will be provided through the Federal Reserve’s FedLine network, which serves more than 10,000 financial institutions directly or through their agents. What are those financial institutions? At the time of this publication, I am still researching and will update this once I have more answers.
If we look closely at the information provided on the FedNow website, it appears that this is not a debit card, but a digital currency that Financial Institutions are expected to be adopting. You may be thinking, how is this possible? We have the US dollar, why would our Fed be introducing this digital currency?
This article from Pymnts provides more information, including quotes from the US Treasury referencing FedNow.
There has been a lot of talk within top Government officials with regards to Crypto and Bitcoin. Including this article from Disclose.TV questioning the safety and security of decentralized cryptocurrency. Some people have pointed out that the US Government may be questioning the safety and security of decentralized cryptocurrency to start the conversation of Government Backed Cryptocurrency. By using phrasing that FedNow and CBDC is safe and secure, they are most likely hoping this will encourage Americans to quickly sign up and go along with their plans of moving forward with a digital currency.
Is the Federal Reserve doing this on their own or is there a directive they are following?
I was able to find an Executive Order that Biden signed back in March, 2022. The Executive Order is called: Executive Order 14067 Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets, you can read it in full by clicking here.
President Trump also signed an Executive Order in 2018 referencing Digital Currency, however, it specifically references Venezuela. His Executive Order is called: Executive Order 13827: Taking Additional Steps to Address the Situation in Venezuela, you can read it here.
Wondering which countries are currently using or switching to a CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency)? The Atlantic Council has an interactive map showing the current countries and their status with the program: https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/cbdctracker/
China has been using Digital Currency for several years
Business Insider published this article in 2018 that covers some of what the Chinese Citizens experience when it comes to Digital Currency and Social Credit Scores.
What are other people saying about the US and a Centralized Digital Currency?
Glenn Beck Justin Haskins on his show and they were discussing this subject, here is the link to the video: https://rumble.com/v2f7awl-explained-how-the-feds-new-program-will-end-in-a-central-bank-digital-curre.html
Robert F. Kennedy believes that FedNow may lead to Financial Slavery:
Marjorie Taylor Greene is critical of FedNow and suggests we return to the Gold Standard: https://news.bitcoin.com/georgia-rep-marjorie-taylor-greene-criticizes-fednow-project-pushes-for-return-to-gold-standard/
What can we do about this?
Ok, now that we know a little bit more about FedNow and the plans for a Central Bank Digital Currency here in America, what can we do? These are my suggestions. Let me know in the comments what you think we can do.
We know that our government works for us. Personally, I think that it is important for American Citizens to call our representatives at both the State and National Level and ask them what they are planning to do to stop this from happening.
Share any information you can with friends and family members. Letting them know the risks of giving the government full control and access to a currency that isn't backed by equity and is programmable.
Let's work together to find companies and banks that refuse to switch to CBDC. By supporting only those businesses, we can show where we stand.
Try as hard as we can to stick to using Cash, as often as we can. If enough Americans choose not to recognize this digital currency, we can use our strength in numbers to hopefully turn this around.
If you have input or questions about this subject, please comment. I'd love to hear what you think. If you found the information here valuable, please share this blog post. Personally, I think it is important for all Americans to be informed so they can make the best decisions for themselves and their loved ones.
Sources: *Links are in order that they are hyperlinked within the article.
https://www.federalreserve.gov/paymentsystems/fednow_about.htm
https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/other20230315a.htm
https://www.businessinsider.com/china-social-credit-system-punishments-and-rewards-explained-2018-4