US Senate Banking Committee to hold virtual hearing on central bank digital currencies

Members of the US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs are set to hold a hearing on central bank digital currencies later this month.

Set for 2:30 p.m. ET on June 9, the hearing is entitled "Building A Stronger Financial System: Opportunities of a Central Bank Digital Currency.” The committee hearing will be virtual and live-streamed to the public.

The witnesses set to appear are MIT Digital Currency Initiative director Neha Narula, Columbia Law School fellow Lev Menand, former CFTC chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo and Stanford professor Darrell Duffie. 

Though a detailed breakdown of the hearing isn't available, past events in Congress during which the topic of central bank digital currencies arose suggest that the latest hearing will focus in part on China, which is moving closer to the launch of a digital yuan. China's central bank has been conducting public tests in a range of major cities.

A digitized dollar is likely to be raised, both by committee members as well as, at the very least, Giancarlo, who since leaving office has advocated for the creation of a U.S.-centric CBDC. The Federal Reserve is conducting research in this area and is expected to make its initial findings and prototypes public later this year.