Federal Reserve is 'stepping up' research, public outreach on CBDC: Lael Brainard

After Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell took the stance that the central bank wasn't in any rush to issue a central bank digital currency ("CBDC"), the Fed is now "stepping up its research and public engagement," Fed Governor Lael Brainard said in a prepared speech for Coindesk's 2021 Consensus Conference.Last week, Powell said the Fed will publish a discussion paper on the topic this summer."Four developments — the growing role of digital private money, the migration to digital payments, plans for the use of foreign CBDCs in cross-border payments, and concerns about financial exclusion — are sharpening the focus on CBDCs," Brainard said.She pointed to risks that may arise if widely adopted stablecoins serve as the basis for new private forms of money. In the nineteenth century, for instance, "inefficiency, fraud, and instability" was rampant when there was active competition among issuers of private paper banknotes in the U.S.Another reason