Federal Reserve will pursue digital currency only with congressional support

[WASHINGTON] The Federal Reserve would not proceed with a central bank digital currency without Congressional approval, and current research on the topic is focused on the risks and benefits not to create a prototype, Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said on Monday.

"We would not proceed without support from Congress," and the passage of any needed authorising laws, Mr Powell said when asked at a Bank for International Settlements conference whether it would even be legal for the Fed to create a digital currency.

Collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Digital Currency Initiative is "focusing on the capabilities and limitations of technologies, not an attempt to create a prototype. Let's try to build the basis and see what we learn.," he said.

REUTERS