Stinks checks have been dropping into the bank accounts of millions of Americans for the past two weeks or so with mixed results. This could be different if there are more stimulus checks sent out in the future, however. Some lawyers have proposed additional stimulus checks with members of Congress and president Trump indicating further stimulus may be necessary to support Americans and businesses through Coronavirus induced lockdowns.
If future stimulus measures are put into place, the US might use so-called digital dollars and FedAccounts to distribute it. Congress women Rashida The in and Pamela Jayapal last week introduced a new proposal to have the federal government issue $2000 per month to residents by a pair of $1 trillion coins and using these to back payments.
“A one-time $1200 check isn’t going to cut it”. Republican Ro Khanna had said , introducing a similar proposal with Republican Tim Ryan. Americans need sustained cash infusions for the duration of this crisis in order to come out on the other side alive, healthy and ready to get back to work.
Thaibb and Jayapals proposed Automatic Boost communities Act(ABC), outlined how Congress could authorise the US Federal reserve to create Fed accounts so money created to support Americans and businesses could be deposited directly into accounts, bypassing check printing, or bank account wire transfers. No later than 2021, the Secretary shall offer all recipients of Boost payments the option to receive their payments in digital dollar wallets. The bill read.
In addition to digital dollars, the bill suggest FedAccount holders could have access to a variety of financial services including debit cards, online account access,automatic bill pay, mobile banking and automatic teller machines maintained in conjunction with the US postal services at its physical locations.
This isn’t the first time lawmakers have considered creating a digital dollar to speed the delivery of stimulus checks. An early draft of a previous bill put together by the US Democratic party did include a provision of a so-called digital dollar that would have allowed the stimulus checks to bypass bank accounts and be sent directly to people’s government run-digital wallets but it was from the final bill.
Elsewhere, other countries are working on projects similar to the digital dollar. China’s digital yuan is in the pipeline and a digital euro is being trialled by France central bank.
The impetus for a digital dollar is not because of one country but rather the need for Americans to compete and interact in the new “Crystosphere” of money and value which is global.when will this be? How will users take it? Unanswered questions are popping.
