Rewind: Federal Reserve Set To Launch “FedNow” Digital Payment System To Usher In CBDC
“With the FedNow Service, the Federal Reserve is creating a leading-edge payments system that is resilient, adaptive, and accessible.”
The following report was first published on March 18th, 2023, on winepressnews.com with some minor changes:
Amidst an American banking pandemonium that has now spread across the world, rattling the markets and economies, on Wednesday, March 15th, the United States Federal Reserve quietly announced the release of a new instant payment system called “FedNow,” that will serve as the springboard for the implementation of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
The Federal Reserve has occasionally made small announcements about their new system over the last several years, but limited details have been provided. However, the Fed indicated in 2022 that their system was expected to launch by late-Spring or Summer of 2023.
Upon the news that FedNow is set to launch soon, TD Cowen analyst Jaret Seiberg said in a note to clients on Wednesday,
“We reiterate our view that FedNow will represent a material change in how consumers use electronic money. It provides for instant settlement, which eliminates clearing risk. And it will be less expensive than debit interchange,” he said, reported by MarketWatch.
Prior to this announcement, Seiberg had said in 2022 that FedNow “will jumpstart the adoption of real-time payments for peer-to-peer, consumer-to-merchant, employer-to-employee, and consumer-bank-account to consumer-bank-account transactions.”
FedNow is an instant payment platform that is interconnected with people’s personal bank accounts interlinked with participating banks, allowing payments of all kinds to be rapidly transferred in a minute or less. Once launched, the platform will be operational 24/7, 365 days, including weekends and holidays. At the end of each business day, depositories will report real-time records of all their balances to the Federal Reserve.
According to a press release from the Federal Reserve published last year, explaining the system, wrote:
The FedNow Service will be available to depository institutions in the United States and will enable individuals and businesses to send instant payments through their depository institution accounts. The service is intended to be a flexible, neutral platform that supports a broad variety of instant payments. At the most fundamental level, the service will provide interbank clearing and settlement that enables funds to be transferred from the account of a sender to the account of a receiver in near real-time and at any time, any day of the year. Depository institutions and their service providers will be able to build on this fundamental capability to offer value-added services to their customers.
The FedNow Service will be designed to maintain uninterrupted 24x7x365 processing with security features to support payment integrity and data security. The service will have a 24-hour business day each day of the week, including weekends and holidays. End-of-day balances will be reported on Federal Reserve accounting records for each participating depository institution on each FedNow Service business day. Access to intraday credit will be provided to participants in the FedNow Service during its business day under the same terms and conditions as for other Federal Reserve services.
The FedNow Service will provide a liquidity management tool to support instant payment services. The tool will enable participants in the FedNow Service to transfer funds to one another to support liquidity needs related to payment activity in the FedNow Service. The tool will also support participants in a private-sector instant payment service backed by a joint account at a Reserve Bank by enabling transfers between the master accounts of participants and a joint account.
The first release of the FedNow Service will also include optional features: fraud prevention tools, the ability to join initially as a receive-only participant, request for payment capability, and tools to support participants in their handling of payment inquiries. The FedNow Service will be released in phases and additional features and service enhancements will be introduced over time. Other aspects of the service, such as fee structures and governing terms, will be announced prior to the launch of the service.
This system is set to launch very soon. According to a press release published on March 15th, FedNow is set to launch in July of this year. The Fed adds that starting the first week of April they will begin accepting ‘the formal certification of participants for the launch of the service. Early adopters will complete a customer testing and certification program, informed by feedback from the FedNow Pilot Program, to prepare for sending live transactions through the system,’ the Fed explained.
The Federal Reserve added: ‘Certification encompasses a comprehensive testing curriculum with defined expectations for operational readiness and network experience. In June, the Federal Reserve and certified participants will conduct production validation activities to confirm readiness for the July launch.’
In a statement, Ken Montgomery, first vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and FedNow program executive, said:
“We couldn’t be more excited about the forthcoming FedNow launch, which will enable every participating financial institution, the smallest to the largest and from all corners of the country, to offer a modern instant payment solution.
“With the launch drawing near, we urge financial institutions and their industry partners to move full steam ahead with preparations to join the FedNow Service.”
Tom Barkin, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond and FedNow Program executive sponsor, added:
“With the FedNow Service, the Federal Reserve is creating a leading-edge payments system that is resilient, adaptive, and accessible. The launch reflects an important milestone in the journey to help financial institutions serve customer needs for instant payments to better support nearly every aspect of our economy.”
The implementation of this system, according to Fed governor Michelle Bowman in a meeting last August, said that this system will essentially act as the launchpad for CBDCs as the Federal Reserve continues to develop theirs, as do other central banks.
She said during the VenCent Fintech Conference, Little Rock, Arkansas, last year:
“FedNow will help transform the way payments are made through new services that allow consumers and businesses to make payments conveniently, in real time, on any day, and with immediate availability of funds for receivers. Our assessment of these benefits has not changed even as we consider whether a central bank digital currency (CBDC) might fit into the future U.S. money and payments landscape.
“My expectation is that FedNow addresses the issues that some have raised about the need for a CBDC. As I’m sure you are already aware, earlier this year we published a discussion paper that outlined some design principles, costs, and benefits of a CBDC and solicited public comments. We received over 2,000 comments, and we are currently reviewing these comments and plan to publish a summary of them.”
SEE: Central Bank Digital Currencies Would Bring Hyperinflation
Fed Chair Jerome Powell also touted FedNow’s benefits, but was a bit bearish in saying that this system will be a springboard for CBDCs, hinting that this system is actually better than a CBDC and that a CBDC is still “years in evaluation.” He said during a House Financial Services Committee:
“A CBDC is going to be years in evaluation.
“And I think we can get this into the hands of the public very quickly, and we’ll have real-time payments in this country very very soon.
“[FedNow] will enable all the banks – any bank in the United States, not just the big ones – to offer instantly available funds and real-time payments to their customers.”
But other investors and financial analysts still see this as the entry for an eventual CBDC. Lawrence Lepard, an investment manager at Equity Management Associates, posted in a tweet: “Right on schedule. Here is your CBDC launch.”
Also [World Affairs in Context (WAC)] said that this system will ultimately pave the way for a CBDC. She notes that India already has a similar platform in place and are using it to further advance their CBDC: the Digital rupee. “The more research you do on this, the more it becomes clear that the two systems go hand-in-hand and serve the same goal,” WAC noted.
WAC also notes that this system will greatly benefit those who are living paycheck-to-paycheck, or rely on government aid, or stimulus checks – as the money will be rapidly transferred giving the recipient faster access.
[Video was removed].
Nigeria has also been trying to do the same thing with their eNaira. The WinePress reported in December that Nigeria was limiting ATMs and bank tellers to only allow max withdrawals of $45, in order to force citizens to use their CBDC.
Furthermore, it should be remembered that the Federal Reserve has already engaged in the creation of its own CBDC with major U.S. banks and credit card companies, as reported by The WP last year.
Moreover, months prior to that, the Fed announced that they would be working on a carbon-based social credit score investing platform with some of the largest banks in the country.
Meanwhile, other countries like Norway are almost cashless entirely and are on the brink of releasing their own unique CBDC. The United Kingdom has also considered implementing its own CBDC tied to universal basic income (UBI). The BRICS nations are also working on their own CBDCs and cross-border stablecoins for international trade.
AUTHOR COMMENTARY
Once again, It’s classic Problem. Reaction. Solution. It’s the Hegelian Dialectic. We covered in a post on March 15th that this collapse of SVB and other banks was to foster in a CBDC. And wouldn’t you know, surprise surprise, the same day the Fed announces the launch of a platform to facilitate that!
Jerome Powell is lying and talking out of his rear as usual. This system so obviously will be used to set the stage for a CBDC and other stablecoins.
Simply put: a CBDC spells the end of personal financial freedom and liberty. They will know precisely how you spend the money, when it was spent, spent on what, and so forth, all in real-time. No more money under your mattress or piggy bank; no more lemonade stands, garage sales, and vegetable carts; no more money in birthday cards, no more charitable gifts and donations: everything will be tracked and monitored. Wherefore if and when the system is implemented, if the government does not want you buying guns or eating too much meat, they’ll know about it. And that’s certainly not out of the question: why else would the Federal Reserve publicly tell people to not eat meat? SEE: St. Louis Federal Reserve Says To Eat Plants Instead Of Turkey This Thanksgiving
What’s worse is that CBDCs will have expiration dates. This is what China does. The currency, tied to the social credit score, will expire after a certain number of days, so saving money and building wealth is virtually impossible at that point. Either you spend it or you lose it.
The bottom line is these things are evil and must be rejected at all costs.
But, alas, as we know, most people are going to gladly accept this, especially if cheap and quick money is attached. We’ve seen the action and contagion this banking turmoil has caused in just one week as the death of the economy is becoming too hard to hide.
SEE: Ways To Resist And Slowdown The Introduction Of Central Bank Digital Currencies
Proverbs 24:10 If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small. [11] If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; [12] If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?
1 Corinthians 10:12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. [13] There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. [14] Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.
[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).
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We probably all hate the idea of the CBDC going into effect since it will mean our money will not ever be our own again. It's like step 1 to the NWO so they can tell us what we can spend our own money on. Hopefully we will be out of here before this transpires. Please Lord take us Home before this happens.