Credit unions protests against developing a CBDC
A United States-based lobbying group has protested against developing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the United States. The National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions (NAFCU) trusts the project’s cost outweighs the “hypothesized benefits.” They suggest supporting the credit union engagement instead, applicating consumer protection rights to digital assets holders.
In a public letter to the U.S. Commerce Department, dated July 5, Andrew Morris, the senior counsel for research and policy at NAFCU, demanded that the costs would outweigh the reimbursements and that there are superior alternatives for accomplishing the same objectives. The letter came in reply to the Department’s appeal for comment (RFC) on digital assets.
While according to the NAFCU release, the full text of the letter is presently unavailable, it drew consideration to private and public sector payments initiatives to exemplify the accessibility of less disruptive alternatives for achieving payments improvement and highlighted the role credit unions previously play in terms of reaching underserved populations.
However, it is barely surprising that the main alternative to CBDC in the lobby group’s view is to support credit union assignation.
The letter also suggests quite a few suggestions that should help the Commerce Department to raise the global affordability of the U.S, such as “support for responsible innovation” within the credit union industry and the application of consumer protection laws to entities facilitating consumer engagement with digital assets.
NAFCU sent the very same reply to the Federal Reserve in May, affirming that the administration of a CBDC “will distract from the Federal Reserve’s dual mandate of achieving both stable prices and maximum sustainable employment.”
A majority of professionals who’ve joined the United States Federal Reserve conference on the “International Roles of the U.S. dollar” believe a U.S. dollar CBDC would never harshly the global currency ecosystem.
