Fed Chair Tells Hill No Plans for U.S. Dollar Digital Currency

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell doesn’t see a central bank digital currency adding to the U.S. payments landscape in the same way it might for other countries’ needs, according to a letter to two House lawmakers.

“The characteristics that make the development of central bank digital currency more immediately compelling for some countries differ from those of the U.S.,” Powell said in the Nov. 19 letter to Reps. Bill Foster (D-Ill.) and French Hill (R-Ark.).

That’s because cash is still widely used, payments networks are many, and the banking sector is diversified, Powell said.

“It is not yet clear what ...