The United States Federal Reserve is hiring a manager for its retail payments section in Washington DC. This was revealed by a Nov 3 U.S Central Bank job posting on its website looking for a new manager. The new manager is expected to contribute to the research of digital currencies, distributed ledger technologies, and Stablecoins.
The manager will also be required to contribute and promote the development and implementation of new policies, regulations, and research in relation to retail payment systems. The manager will also be part of the retail payments section, which oversees the Federal Reserve Bank’s check and automated clearinghouse services. It also facilitates research in retail payments innovation, and addresses policy and regulatory issues concerning retail payments systems.
The listed maximum salary grade is federal grade 29, which means that the new hire will take home $250,700 per year. This job posting has led to many wondering what the Federal Reserve was trying to achieve. It gets clearer when you consider the fact that two members of the House of Representatives financial committee had previously asked the Federal Reserve whether they had any reservations about the launch of U.S dollar digital currency. They expressed their concerns to the Fed that wide adoption of such a digital currency could harm the U.S dollar.
The Fed’s action to expand the role of its retail payments manager to include digital currencies, Stablecoins, and distributed ledger technologies, could be an indication that the Federal Reserve is at least researching the possibility. Several fed officials and former officials have had a lot to say about the fiat digital currency issue. Former Federal Reserve official Simon potter said that; the proposals to end the U.S dollar’s dominance by replacing it with digital currency, makes no sense. He added;
“I see no argument that makes sense to have something that complicated out there when you have large, liquid capital markets in the U.S. Not having one currency that you can basically price things and have a deep market in that makes life much harder for the global economy.”
Blockchain and crypto competencies are becoming a hot commodity in today’s market. A June 19 LinkedIn report indicated; that Blockchain was the fastest growing expertise in fast developing Asian economies. These include; Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam, china, Taiwan, and South Korea.
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