Late last week, Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard laid out the case for an American CBDC. In her time speaking with the Aspen Institute, she called for “urgency” around the matter, including noting that China is far ahead in the race for a central bank digital currency. Additionally, she suggested that a CBDC would shorten international intermediation chains, keep citizens utilizing government-backed currency rather than moving toward stablecoins, and getting government payments to the unbanked population with greater ease.
“Leaders of the Fed have been moving cautiously towards acknowledging that an American CBDC will exist in the future, but Governor Brainard’s commentary is really the first that lays out the strategic benefits while dismissing a future without a CBDC as impractical. The faster central bank bureaucrats adopt her thinking, the better positioned the country will be strategical,” said Richard Gardner, CEO of Modulus, a US-based developer of ultra-high-performance trading and surveillance technology that powers global equities, derivatives, and digital asset exchanges.
“The dollar is very dominant in international payments, and if you have the other major jurisdictions in the world with a digital currency, a CBDC offering, and the U.S. doesn’t have one, I just, I can’t wrap my head around that… That just doesn’t sound like a sustainable future to me,” Brainard is quoted as saying.
“We’ve been talking recently about the pressure that China’s leadership on CBDC development puts on regional players like Vietnam, but every major power should see the warning signs here. The race to a functional, widely adopted CBDC is this generation’s Race to Space. The United States shouldn’t rest on its laurels to take a wait-and-see approach here. This is the time to be bold and show leadership. Governor Brainard is correct. A monetary policy without employing a CBDC simply is not sustainable,” said Gardner.
Modulus is known throughout the financial technology segment as a leader in the development of ultra-high frequency trading systems and blockchain technologies. Over the past twenty years, the company has built technology for the world’s most notable exchanges, with a client list that includes NASA, NASDAQ, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Barclays, Siemens, Shell, Yahoo!, Microsoft, Cornell University, and the University of Chicago.
“When history looks back at the emergence of CBDCs, I think we’re going to, only then, truly understand what a strategic advantage early mover status is. The world is still grappling with attempting to wrap their arms around pandemic-related issues, but that isn’t stopping technology’s ever-progressing march forward. China is taking innovation seriously, and, if for no other reason than that alone, it would seem that other global leaders should be investing heavily. Countries will need to adapt, or they will get left behind,” said Gardner.
