US Federal Reserve vice-chair for supervision Michael Barr affirmed his institution’s cautious policy on central bank digital currency (CBDC), reiterating that it “has made no decision on issuing a CBDC”.

Speaking on September 8 at a fintech conference hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, Barr said the central bank is studying ledger and token design. But “investigation and research are very different from decision making about next steps”, he said.

The Fed will only put a