US lawmakers are working on an economic stimulus package that would, in part, send checks to citizens to stem the economic fallout from the novel coronavirus. While the measure aims to be timely, the proposal brings up one of the pitfalls of the traditional financial system: it moves money at a snail’s pace.
In a new interview on MSNBC, US Senator Elizabeth Warren stresses the difficulty involved in distributing funds.
“This is actually a real concern… having to build a structure to be able to figure out where the money goes and to keep track of where it goes and what the repayment obligations are is going to be more complex.”
Binance.US chief executive Catherine Coley says cryptocurrency offers a viable solution.
Coley penned an article at CoinDesk advocating the use of crypto stablecoins to distribute funds. Stablecoins are digital assets pegged to traditional assets, such as the US dollar, and can be easily interchanged for US dollars via crypto exchanges. Coley also says that digital assets offer many advantages over checks, especially in a time of crisis.
“Digital assets can be put in escrow to be released at a certain time.
Once the asset is addressed to its recipient, that person can send the money to themselves or others without any fees or a waiting period, providing a faster solution than traditional checks.”
The crypto exchange executive points out that every American, even those without a home and mailbox, can receive payment.
Critics, however, argue that not everyone is tech savvy enough to understand how to store, send and receive stablecoins and that the learning curve is too great. There are also plenty of citizens, average grandmas and grandpas, who do not necessarily own or know how to operate a smartphone, laptop or other digital device that powers a digital wallet.
Meanwhile, Democrats in the house are considering a proposal that would create a digital dollar and digital wallets to speed up the process of sending money to citizens.
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