Head of policy for stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Financial, Dante Disparte, called central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) a “preposterous idea” during a panel Wednesday at Consensus 2022.
See related article: CBDCs, stablecoins can coexist: Fed Vice Chair Lael Brainard
Fast facts
- Disparte later added the Fed issuing its own digital dollar is “the equivalent idea of the [Federal Aviation Administration] in the United States building jet engines and flying planes.”
- Joining Disparte was Forkast Editor-in-Chief Angie Lau; Caitlin Long, founder and CEO of crypto bank Custodia; and Rohan Grey, a law professor at Willamette University and ardent cryptocurrency critic, who said “F**k the Fed” in his opening remarks.
- Disparte claimed that Circle’s USDC stablecoin was a real digital solution, but Grey argued that as a private company Circle is shielded from liability, putting the public at risk if it goes under.
- Long said she was focusing on the decentralized finance (DeFi) space and that despite the growth in this sector there is not yet a solution on how to move funds between it and the traditional financial system.
- Fed Vice Chair Lael Brainard recently said CBDCs and stablecoins could coexist and the agency is waiting on the backing of Congress and the Biden administration before proceeding with a digital dollar.
See related article: Governments pushing for CBDCs smell blood in Terra Classic’s struggles