The Fed is looking carefully at issuing a digital dollar, Chairman Jerome Powell tells Congress

<p><img src="https://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5f61cc2057b7da001ee11e21-2400/gettyimages-1200308716.jpg" border="0" alt="Jerome Powell hearing" data-mce-source="Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images"></p><p></p><bi-shortcode id="summary-shortcode" data-type="summary-shortcode" class="mceNonEditable" contenteditable="false">Summary List Placement</bi-shortcode><ul><li><strong>Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told Congress on Tuesday that it is looking carefully at issuing a digital US dollar.</strong></li><li><strong>Powell called the potential digital dollar a "high priority" project, according to the testimony.</strong></li><li><strong>The potential issuance of a digital dollar would come amid a surge in cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, which briefly surpassed $1 trillion in market value last week.</strong></li><li aria-level="1"><strong><a href="https://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/4np/10-things-opening-bell'utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sign up here for our daily newsletter, 10 Things Before the Opening Bell</a></strong></li></ul><hr><p>Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told Congress on Tuesday that the Fed is "looking carefully" at whether it should issue a digital US dollar.</p><p>A digital currency developed by the fed is a "high priority project for us," Powell told Congress, but he added that there are "significant technical and policy questions" related to a digital US dollar.</p><p>"We are committed to solving the technology problems, and consulting very broadly with the public and very transparently with all interested constituencies as to whether we should do this," Powell said.</p><p>As the world's reserve currency, Powell stressed that the US doesn't have to be first in issuing a digital dollar, but it needs "to get it right."</p><p>"This is something we're investing time and labor in, across the Federal Reserve system," Powell said.</p><p>The move would come amid a surge in popularity for cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum. Bitcoin <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/bitcoin-market-value-1-trillion-for-the-first-time-cryptocurrency-2021-2-1030102808">briefly reached $1 trillion in market value last week</a> and traded above $58,000 over the weekend.&nbsp;</p><p><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/fed-digital-dollar-jerome-powell-congress-issue-crypto-bitcoin-2021-2-1030114663#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-its-like-make-beer-with-picobrew-c-home-brew-2020-3">We tested a machine that brews beer at the push of a button</a></p>
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