(OPINION) The Federal Reserve is about to launch its new FedNow Service, allowing banks to transfer money instantly. But what many describe as just back-end plumbing for real-time payments could be a slippery slope to an “evil” central bank digital currency (CBDC), according to Rich Checkan, President and Co-Founder of Assets Strategies International.
“I’m a big fan of FedNow. But I don’t like that it’s a slippery slope that leads to the evil of CBDC,” Checkan told Michelle Makori, Lead Anchor and Editor-in-Chief at Kitco News.
“This is not happening tomorrow, but the cornerstone is being laid, and now is the time to look at whether we can structure them in a way that is more suitable for freedom.”
A CBDC could be inevitable in the U.S. due to the rising pressure on the greenback to remain the dominant reserve currency. “From the U.S. standpoint, it’s about the global lead in this effort,” Checkan said.
There are 130 countries exploring a CBDC, and the U.S. doesn’t want to be left behind. “That’s a real concern for our leaders,” he noted.
The U.S. has benefited from being the world’s reserve currency, with the rest of the world buying American debt. “It has a big impact on our standard of living. And if it goes away, our standard of living will suffer,” Checkan said.
And with the de-dollarization trend gaining speed, central banks worldwide hold fewer reserves in U.S. dollars, preferring gold and other currencies, Checkan described.
?”There are two things that we’re doing that are driving people away from dollars. We’re mismanaging the dollar. And we weaponized it,” he said.
