Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell appeared before the House financial services committee Wednesday for day one of his two-dated mandated monetary policy update. He faced questions on rising inflation concerns, when tapering of bond purchases will start, and on regulations around cryptocurrencies and central bank digital currencies. On the same day that the European Central Bank elected to move forward with researching and developing a digital Euro, Powell also indicated an interest in exploring how a CBDC could benefit the American financial system. Representative Stephen Lynch (Democrat, MA) said that a more ... (full story)