The Federal Reserve has announced a limited digital dollar pilot program in partnership with five major banks — JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and Goldman Sachs — set to begin in September 2026.
Pilot Design
The program will test a wholesale central bank digital currency for interbank settlement, not a retail digital dollar for consumers.
- Wholesale CBDC for bank-to-bank transactions only — not available to the public
- 12-month pilot covering cross-border payments and securities settlement
- Built on a permissioned distributed ledger maintained by the Fed
- Settlement times targeted at under 10 seconds versus current 1-3 business days
- Privacy protections include no transaction-level data sharing with government agencies
Political Context
Congressional Republicans have introduced legislation to block any retail CBDC, citing surveillance concerns. The Fed has emphasized this pilot is strictly wholesale and institutional, designed to modernize payment infrastructure rather than replace cash. China's digital yuan, used by 300 million people, has intensified pressure on the US to maintain dollar dominance in digital payments.
