July 24, 2020
The Senate hearing focused on economic competition with China.
On July 23, J. Christopher Giancarlo, former chairman of the CFTC and senior counsel at the firm, testified before the Senate banking committee’s economic policy subcommittee on “US-China: Winning the Economic Competition.” The Senate hearing addressed how the US can succeed at remaining economically and technologically competitive with China.
Mr. Giancarlo, a longtime advocate for the development of a US-led digital dollar, stressed to legislators the importance of a US Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) that is superior to the digital currency China is expected to issue as early as this year. In his testimony, he proposed the US run a series of discrete pilot programs to address specific issues, such as privacy, financial inclusion, those underserved by banks and various payment types.
“The recent launch of SpaceX reminds us that the United States explored outer space and the lunar surface through a series of pilot programs known as Mercury, Gemini and Apollo,” he noted in his testimony. “So too, should the US explore a Digital Dollar in a series of well-conceived and executed pilot programs.”
Mr. Giancarlo is the founder and director of The Digital Dollar Project, a multi-stakeholder initiative to advance exploration of a United States CBDC.
The Senate hearing can be accessed here. Mr. Giancarlo is also featured in related articles on his testimony in Forbes, The BlockCrypto and Coindesk.
