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Digital Dollar Should Be 'Actively Explored,' Says Former CFTC Chairman

Maintaining users' privacy is a key design focus, according to Massad. "We're not China."

By Jamie Crawley
AccessTimeIconJun 2, 2021 at 2:55 p.m. UTC
Updated Sep 14, 2021 at 1:05 p.m. UTC
Timothy Massad, a former chairman of the CFTC
Timothy Massad, a former chairman of the CFTC
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A digital dollar should be "actively explored," former Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Timothy Massad told CoinDesk TV.

  • "I'm glad to see that the [Federal Reserve] is doing that," Massad said during CoinDesk TV's "First Mover" on Wednesday.
  • He added there are multiple design choices and other issues to think about in terms of maintaining users' privacy, noting, "We're not China."
  • Like almost all major economies, the U.S. is exploring the development of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), though for the time being all plans remain in the discussion phase.
  • One potential design choice is for the Fed to build a digital dollar operating platform on which private institutions can build applications, Massad suggested.
  • "That's attractive because innovation is always going to come more from the private sector than the government," he said.
  • The ex-CFTC chairman and current senior fellow at Harvard University had previously been discussing his opinion piece by Bloomberg published Tuesday about the potential dangers posed by any disruption of the value of the stablecoin tether for the wider crypto ecosystem.

Disclosure

Please note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information has been updated.

CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. In November 2023, CoinDesk was acquired by the Bullish group, owner of Bullish, a regulated, digital assets exchange. The Bullish group is majority-owned by Block.one; both companies have interests in a variety of blockchain and digital asset businesses and significant holdings of digital assets, including bitcoin. CoinDesk operates as an independent subsidiary with an editorial committee to protect journalistic independence. CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive options in the Bullish group as part of their compensation.

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