A new bill would create an electronic version of the U.S. dollar. The bill was introduced by Reps. Stephen Lynch, Jesús Chuy Garcia and Ayanna Pressley. The electronic dollar would be a bearer instrument that people could hold on their phone or a card.
The bill is meant to create a true digital analogue to the U.S. dollar. The system would be token-based, not account-based. If someone were to lose their phone or card, they would lose the funds. This electronic dollar would be deemed legal and be functionally identical to a physical greenback.
This form of e-cash would support peer-to-peer transactions. It would differ from other proposals for a digital dollar, which are based on stablecoins or other decentralized tools. Blockchains are designed to track every transaction, and any transaction could be tied to the sender and receiver.