Central banks around the world are weighing introducing a new kind of money, known as digital currency. China has been at the forefront of such efforts. In April, Beijing said it would expand its pilot program for a homegrown electronic-payment system, which shares some features with bitcoin and other private cryptocurrencies, to a number of large cities. Even the Federal Reserve, which has long said it doesn’t have plans to launch a digital currency, plans to build and test a hypothetical design. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell cautioned Monday that a “great deal of work” needs to be done before the central bank would decide to launch a digital dollar. Here is what you need to know about this new form of money.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-central-banks-want-to-create-their-own-digital-currencies-like-bitcoin-11603291131