Some US lawmakers recently introduced the “Electronic Currency And Secure Hardware Act” (ECASH Act) in a fresh push for a digital dollar. According to this group of lawmakers, the US Treasury Department is the preferred government entity to create a digital dollar, not the Federal Reserve. The Reps who introduced this bill include Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.), Jesús Chuy Garcia (D-Ill.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.).
According to the lawmakers, the ECASH Act will direct the Treasury Secretary towards developing and issuing the digital dollar. Furthermore, this electronic version of the dollar will also consider the preservation of privacy and anonymity in transactions.
In addition, according to the bill, the digital dollar would be a bearer instrument that people could hold on their phones or card. Furthermore, the e-dollar system will also be based on the tokens accruable to the holder – and not account-based. This means people who lose their phones or cards will lose the commensurate dollar amount. In practical terms, this would be the same as losing a physical wallet with dollar bills in it.
Speaking on the ECASH Act in a media session, assistant professor at Willamette University, Rohan Grey said:
“We’re proposing to have a genuine cash-like bearer instrument, a token-based system that doesn’t have either a centralized ledger or distributed ledger because it had no ledger whatsoever.”
Furthermore, Grey also explained that the system “uses secured hardware software and it’s issued by the Treasury.”
The digital dollar will also support peer-to-peer transactions and in all likelihood, support fully anonymous transactions.
Image Credits: Pixabay
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