Citigroup, Mastercard & more banks begin 12-week digital dollar pilot with NY Fed

Published , by Donovan Erskine

It was back in 2021 that we first heard rumblings of the Federal Reserve having an interest in creating a digital dollar. This came after the news that china was working towards a digital version of its own cryptocurrency. Now, plans are officially being put in place to begin testing the potential of a digital US Dollar, with financial companies Citigroup, Mastercard, and Wells Fargo all participating in the experiment.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York announced in a statement its plans to begin a 12-week digital dollar pilot. This will provide clear feedback on how tokenizing assets could streamline the banking process for consumers and the banks themselves. The regulated liability network, as the project is named, will include major financial groups including Citigroup and Wells Fargo.

"The NYIC looks forward to collaborating with members of the banking community to advance research on asset tokenization and the future of financial market infrastructures in the U.S. as money and banking evolve," said Per von Zelowitz, Director of the New York Innovation Center. While this is certainly a fascinating development, the Federal Reserve says that it won’t rush into making any decisions.

This comes after the Federal Reserve expressed interest last year in developing a digital version of the US Dollar. If there are any further developments to this story, you can expect to read all about it on our topic page dedicated to cryptocurrency.