Fed's Powell: Would pursue digital currency only with Congressional support

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve would not proceed with a central bank digital currency without Congressional approval, and current research on the topic is focused on the risks and benefits not to create a prototype, Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said on Monday.

“We would not proceed without support from Congress,” and the passage of any needed authorizing laws, Powell said when asked at a Bank for International Settlements conference whether it would even be legal for the Fed to create a digital currency. Collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Digital Currency Initiative is "focusing on the capabilities and limitations of technologies, not an attempt to create a prototype. Let's try to build the basis and see what we learn."

(Reporting by Howard Schneider)

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