Hello John and Doves,

 

The much anticipated/dreaded FedNow is "officially live" with 41 banks and 15 service providers "certified to use the service."  Members include JPMorgan, Chase, US Bancorp, BNY.  This is the Federal Reserve's "instant-payment service."  (Like credit cards aren't instant payment.  I see this as a move to set up bank accounts at the Federal Reserve/central bank where THEY will see every transaction and, eventually, control the flow of money.)

 

Currently "35 banks and credit unions...utilizing the service, as well as the Treasury Department's Bureau of Fiscal Service."  The article says that big banks initially opposed this system as redundant....so it looks like "something" changed their minds.  Bank accounts will be with the Federal Reserve/central bank.
Federal Reserve launches FedNow instant payment service that could bypass Venmo and PayPal

 

They are expecting more financial institutions to join as they continue to roll this out.

There are downsides to FedNow:

 

"..FedNow would allow the Fed - a government entity - to see intimate details of consumer transactions.  This raises huge privacy concerns....This means the Fed...would have access to data without a warrant and be able to share it with law enforcement agencies.  The data would also likely be vulnerable to hacking, as the government's record on data breaches is certainly no better than that of the private sector....under these types of schemes, "the federal government could learn how much a mother paid for her son's piano lessons, how friends chose to split a dinner bill, where an individual traveled using a rideshare app, how much a couple spent on concert tickets for their anniversary, and billions of other nuggets of information the government, frankly, has no right to know."
FedNow Isn’t a CBDC, But Still Contains Many Dangers - Competitive Enterprise Institute

 

Maranatha,

 

Chance