newsevents / pressreleases / other20230315a. htm. agustin carstens, general manager of the bank for international settlements has discussed the idea of a “ unified ledger ” run by the central bank to fully realize the potential of new technologies developed by the private sector. see agustin carstens, “ innovation and the future of the monetary system, ” speech at the monetary authority of singapore, singapore, february 22, 2023, https : / / www. bis. org / speeches / sp230222. htm. fabio panetta, “ central bank digital currencies : defining the problems, designing the solutions, ” speech at u. s. monetary policy forum, new york, february 18, 2022, https : / / www. bis. org / review / r220223o. pdf. jon cunliffe, “ the digital pound, ” speech at uk finance, february 7, 2023, https : / / www. bankofengland. co. uk / speech / 2023 / february / jon - cunliffe - speech - at - uk - finance - update - on - central - bankdigital - currency. - 4financial inclusion is an important goal when considering improvements in access to financial services, banking, and the payment system. however, in the united states today, over 95 percent of households have a least one member of the household with a banking relationship holding a checking or savings account. 6 of the remaining 4. 5 percent who are not banked, nearly three - quarters have no interest in having a bank account, and approximately one - third cited a lack of trust in banks as the reason for not having a bank account. i think it is unlikely that this group would find the government somehow more trustworthy than highly regulated banks. unbanked households are also less likely to own mobile phones or have access to the internet, which would present barriers to cbdc adoption. while there has been important research on these barriers to adoption, including consumer attitudes and technology requirements, policymakers also need to consider whether there are other means to improve financial inclusion, such as alternatives for making the distribution of government benefits more efficient and effective like promoting financial literacy. 7 cbdc for implementation of policy objectives another issue is whether the government should use new technologies, including a potential cbdc, to accomplish a variety of policy objectives beyond those directly related to the operating of an efficient

i will say more on that shortly. declining cash use and cbdc in jurisdictions that have not adopted a cbdc, cash is generally the only central bank money available to the public, and it remains an important and popular means of payment. 9 in some countries, however, digital payments have rapidly supplanted the use of cash. as a result of this trend, many central banks have cited the importance of access to central bank money by the general public as a potential reason to issue a cbdc. for example, sir jon cunliffe of the united kingdom examined the central role money plays in social and economic stability and concluded that, because private money has been replacing the use of government money over time, at some point “ a retail, general purpose digital currency … will be needed in the u. k. ” 10 because the federal reserve is committed to ensuring the continued safety and availability of cash, a cbdc could be considered as a means to expand safe payment options, not to reduce or replace them. so, an important issue for us to consider would be whether a cbdc could provide the public with a more attractive alternative to cash in a world that may be shifting away from cash - based payments. in probing this question, we need to also consider the privacy implications, and whether a cbdc would be a better alternative than private - sector solutions. see board of governors of the federal reserve system, money and payments : the u. s. dollar in the age of digital transformation ( washington : board of governors, january 2022 ), https : / / www. federalreserve. gov / publications / files / money - and - payments - 20220120. pdf. jon cunliffe, “ the digital pound, ” https : / / www. bankofengland. co. uk / speech / 2023 / february / jon - cunliffe - speechat - uk - finance - update - on - central - bank - digital - currency. - 8stablecoins and cbdc some new private forms of money, often referred to as stablecoins, have emerged mainly to support trading in the crypto - asset ecosystem both as a means of payment and as a store of value. these stablecoins, which purport to have convertibility one - for - one with the dollar, have also been discussed as an alternative to traditional payments. however, stablecoins are less secure, less stable, and less