Earlier this month, the Philadelphia Fed released a report called “Central Bank Digital Currency: Central Banking for All?” that sought to look at the idea of an account-based central bank digital currency (CBDC). Ultimately, it concluded that introducing a digital currency could wind up endangering traditional commercial banking. “The introduction of digital currencies may justify a fundamental shift in the architecture of a financial system, a central bank ‘open to all,'” the paper opens by saying. Among the questions raised was the idea of whether a CBDC could allow individuals to have a direct account with a ... (full story)