Fed Now WHO?

Fed Now WHO?

fed now May 2, 2023

WHAT IS FEDNOW?

The FedNow℠ service is described as a nation-wide instant payment system, kind of like Zelle or Venmo, where funds are sent instantly from your bank account, except with this service, transfers are backed by the Federal Reserve. At the time of its release, FedNow’s capabilities will allow instant transactions to take place between participating businesses, and 24/7/365 access to account funds. More features are to be added after its initial launch, according to the Federal Reserve’s public announcement on their website.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

You know how when you swipe a credit or debit card to buy something the money from the card’s account will come out, but you’ll see the word ‘pending’ for a few days? That’s because during that time there’s a complex system of communications that needs to happen between your bank and the bank of whoever you’re buying from to make sure that the funds you’re spending exist, and can be transferred to the bank of whoever is collecting the money to officially complete the transaction. So you basically buy on credit, and everything gets settled between banks later. FedNow follows the same processes and runs approval through its own system, in a matter of seconds, creating an instant payment method backed by the credibility of the Fed.

WHEN DOES IT LAUNCH?

As of the first week in April 2023, the FedNow service is in the final stages of beta testing by financial institutions across the U.S, including the U.S. Treasury. Some of them have already expressed their interest in continuing use after its official launch in July 2023.

WHO DOES FEDNOW SERVICE?

Right now, FedNow is focused on recruiting financial institutions like banks and credit unions to use their services, which ultimately will allow them access to the patrons of those institutions, like you and me. Depending on whether your bank accepts and provides it, you might have access to FedNow by this summer. As more financial businesses sign on, the more widely-accepted this payment system could become.

IS FEDNOW REPLACING THE DOLLAR?

Amongst growing concerns globally over the stability of the American Dollar, it is still the number one used fiat currency in the world. However, while part of the reason behind the launch of the FedNow digital instant payment system is to keep up with technological advances and the hope of helping to stabilize the economy, the FedNow program is not an actual, real-life digital currency…(yet?). It would just have access to your bank account funds, like Venmo or Zelle, and could carry out a payment to another user of the system, instantaneously.

What WOULD have the potential to dethrone the dollar would be a CBDC, a Central Banking Digital Currency, which is just a fancy way of describing a physical (as physical as you can get with something intangible) digital currency (not unlike cryptocurrency, if that speaks to you) that is completely under the control of a centralized government (meaning backed by, but also under the full control of the federal government, which is as awesome as your trust in our current leaders is strong.)

As of 2023, 114 countries are in various stages of research, decision, or the launch of their own digital currency. Just three years ago in 2020, those numbers were significantly smaller. So what happened? Well the US’s actions when we imposed sanctions on Russian oil due to their invasion of Ukraine has caused a lot of strife between us and those countries who have sided with Russia. Because of this, Russia and its allies China, India, South Africa, and Brazil have begun a campaign to move away from the American Dollar and toward other fiat currencies, or digital currencies. This is the most likely reason for why the Fed is now looking into establishing their own CBDC. However, there are steps—such as passage as a bill through Congress—which would have to take place before the creation of a digital dollar is approved.

FedNow could be the beginning of such a system, however, at this time it most certainly could not be labeled as such.

PROS TO THE FEDNOW PROGRAM

  • The FedNow service could definitely bring the U.S. into a more modern digital age where payments to anyone in the country are instant, and we could have constant access to our funds.
  • Also, it could influence other payment systems and even banks and credit loans to become more competitive with their pricing and fees.
  • If the use of FedNow spreads, the option to pay your bills could become much easier and negate the need to stick within business hours in some cases.
  • Which means receiving payments would also become quicker, so stuff like paychecks could hit your account sooner.

CONS TO THE FEDNOW PROGRAM

  • As the Fed is the organization which created the FedNow service, they created a system in which all transactions are instantly approved…by them. So, that system is centralized with the Fed at the helm. There are a few different dangers that such a massive, centralized monetary system could introduce, such as…
  • …A heightened draw for online thieves to one huge honey pot of the whole US’s money.
  • …Or the abuse of power, if this system monopolizes the banking space with the meaningful backing of the Federal Reserves, and therefore, the federal government. At a time when the public’s trust in the federal government is at an all time low, it seems a lot of power to hand over to them.
  • Since FedNow is only an American digital payment system, if you were to travel outside of our borders, you wouldn’t be able to use it. So, that would require you to make other plans on how to pay for what you need when you’re out of country, other than FedNow.
  • Let’s not forget the Fed’s role within our government: to keep interest rates and inflation under control. And what is their one tool to do this? The manipulation of our fiat currency. It’s a complicated system, but essentially it boils down to this: when there’s not enough money going into the market, the Fed floods it with cash by lowering borrowing rates, creating more spending, and more job opportunities. When inflation gets too high, they force it back down by draining the market, which means higher prices, and high interest rates. So it wouldn’t be out of character for the Fed to eventually use the FedNow service in the future to do what it already does: stabilize the market. Except it would be much more visible just within your FedNow account to watch as funds appear or disappear according to their will.

And now for the final question: what is 7k’s plan? In regards to FedNow, we’re not sweating. At the end of the day, we hope that the Fed recognizes the power it will have with the launch of the FedNow service and chooses to use it responsibly, but we aren’t afraid of any fiat currency or its digital payment system little cousin. We know we’ve got something really special in sound money, and we’re going to keep on keeping until we’ve lost our voices from bellowing our truth from the mountaintops. We know gold and silver are here to stay, we know they have inherent value beyond what we say or they say or anybody says. We just want to share that with anyone who is fearful, or anxious, or angry. We feel your pain, your excitement, your desire to be good and brave and helpful in these tumultuous times. And there’s nothing much more we can say than this…

We BELIEVE in YOU. And YOUR POWER to make a DIFFERENCE.

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