Is the Future of Digital Assets in the United States Bright Again? Foley & Lardner LLP

She specializes in local web3 news, all while crafting feature articles and delivering global crypto industry updates. Shiela holds a degree in broadcasting from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines. It is the native token of the Sui blockchain, a Layer 1 blockchain developed by Mysten Labs. It is designed to be used as a means of value exchange, governance, and to pay for transaction fees within the ecosystem. The SEC announcement states that the Task Force will be focused on developing clear regulatory lines, realistic paths to registration, sensible disclosure frameworks, and deploying enforcement resources judiciously. The Task Force plans to hold future roundtables and is asking for public input as well.

The government would need to make sure the transition to a digital dollar is smooth or it would risk destabilizing the entire global financial system. Farella says the Fed may opt to create a digital dollar that is not a pure CBDC but rather a public-private hybrid currency. However, critics argue that a digital dollar would generate major privacy concerns and hand over too much power to the federal government.

• Twenty-three percent of consumers — 59.6 million people — have owned at least one cryptocurrency in the past year, up from 16% — 41.5 million people — in 2021. Sixteen percent currently own cryptocurrencies, with 7% saying they owned them in the past but do not now. The share of consumers owning cryptocurrencies in 2022 has increased four percentage points from 2021. Last year, just 12% of survey respondents reported that they currently held cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrency owners are most likely to be millennials and high-income consumers.

The public often expects that nonbank money will maintain a stable value and remain readily convertible into both physical currency and bank deposits, but that is not always the case because the assets supporting nonbank money are not risk-free. For example, a decline in the value of a security that backs nonbank money may imperil the nonbank money’s conversion into commercial bank money quickly and at a fixed rate. Concern that nonbank money will not remain convertible quickly at full one-for-one value may fuel runs on this money. That is, having lost confidence, holders will try to convert out of their nonbank money more quickly and in greater amounts. This puts more pressure on sales of supporting securities or other assets, causing worse losses.

These policy objectives formed the foundation for the currency’s technical design choices. In March 2022, Biden directed the OSTP, in partnership with other institutions, to scrutinize and come up with a viable answer to the question of digital assets and a U.S. The White House placed urgency on creating a digital dollar, outlining plans to guide its creation. A U.S. CBDC should safely meet future needs for payment services and be free of credit risk and liquidity risk for the public.

It means that, as China is creating its own digital currency, the United States wants to make sure the model that proliferates around the world is one that respects democratic values—for example, privacy. But in order to do that, the United States needs to bring its own model to the table. Treasury is saying today that the United States is going to do that and that it’s a whole-of-government priority.