Fed's Waller says he thinks blockchain is 'totally overrated'

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller is not yet convinced that the U.S. - home of the global reserve currency - needs to adopt a central bank digital currency, he said in a virtual seminar. Note that CBDCs are virtual tokens issued by a central bank; they are pegged to the value of that's country's fiat currency. "I think blockchain is totally overrated," Waller emphasized, adding that the Fed has "put a lot of resources into understanding digital currencies and the blockchain." Waller's skepticism on the space comes despite his comments in Nov. 2021, highlighting some benefits of developing a CBDC such as "faster, more efficient retail payments as well, especially in the cross-border context, where transparency can still be low and costs can still be high." The Fed and other financial regulators in the past year have been taking early-stage steps to understand the decentralized space and its implications to financial stability.