Crypto Bank Silvergate Sees Any Launch of Fed Digital Currency ‘Years Away’
- California bank aims to issue U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin
- Fed to publish report on digital currencies in coming weeks
Silvergate Capital Corp. Chief Executive Officer Alan Lane said any launch of a U.S. central bank-backed digital currency is “likely years away” and he’s not concerned about the potential competition as the cryptocurrency-oriented bank gears toward issuing a dollar-backed stablecoin in 2022.
“If a U.S. CBDC (central bank digital currency) is launched and it is a direct-to-consumer, direct-to-retail CBDC, then that would essentially be competing with any other existing or proposed stablecoin out there,” Lane said on the bank’s fourth-quarter earnings call. But it’s unlikely the Federal Reserve would launch its own digital dollar any time soon, he added. “We’re not concerned about it at all -- we’re sitting here, ready to launch something in 2022.”