Please note that because of a scheduling conflict with one of our guest presenters, we’ve rescheduled the webinar and updated this post. The webinar is taking place on June 9.
What might a central bank digital currency (CBDC) look like? And how would it work? While the Federal Reserve Board of Governors has not expressed any intention to launch a CBDC, it issued a white paper
in January this year to kick off a discussion about it with payment stakeholders. The Board is asking for input by May 20.
Last August, before the release of the white paper, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Digital Currency Initiative announced they were partnering to study the implications of a CBDC. Calling their collaborative effort "Project Hamilton," they describe it as a "multiyear research project to explore the CBDC design space and gain a hands-on understanding of a CBDC's technical challenges and opportunities." They issued a Phase I report this past February.
In the next episode of our Talk About Payments webinar series on June 9, two Boston Fed senior leaders on the Project Hamilton team will provide a detailed overview and current status of the project. Jim Cunha is executive vice president and interim chief operating officer leading the Boston Fed's research effort in central bank digital currency technology. Bob Bench is an assistant vice president in the Boston Fed's payment strategies group. Dave Lott, Atlanta Fed payments risk expert, will moderate the discussion.
We encourage financial institutions, retailers, payments processors, law enforcement officials, academics, and other payments system stakeholders to participate. As always, we're allotting time for participant questions. Please pass this invitation along to any colleagues you believe will be interested in attending.
So, please join us for our webinar on June 9 from 1 to 2 p.m. (ET). The webinar is free and open to the public. However, you must register. We'll send you login information after you register. If you cannot attend the live event, a recording of the webinar will be posted the week after the event.
If you'd like to view previous webinars, go to our Talk About Payments webinars page.
We hope to see you on June 9!
By David Lott, a payments risk expert in the Retail Payments Risk Forum at the Atlanta Fed