When Libra was announced last year it was met with significant pushback, particularly in Europe; today, the European Union has gone from vowing to stop Libra to pushing a digital euro and the US now has several politicians pushing for a digital dollar; Visa has sought to patent technology that would make its card network a potential partner for central bank digital currencies; it is no longer a question of if there will be digital currencies supported by central banks to when and how; the pandemic has highlighted shortcomings in delivering government support that a digital currency could help alleviate; there is a big question of whether consumers would hold accounts directly with the government (US Treasury) or whether they should be held at existing banks. American Banker
