In this clip from "The Future of Fintech" on Motley Fool Live, recorded on Feb. 10, Motley Fool contributors Matt Frankel, Jason Hall, and Will Healy debate whether the U.S. government will create its own cryptocurrency and discuss the upside of the digital dollar for business owners due to the instantaneous transaction and better managing of cash flows.
Matt Frankel: Do you think there will be a U.S. government digital dollar? I say no, but they could do that and squash Bitcoin (BTC 0.49%) in a minute if they wanted to.
Jason Hall: I think it's 50/50. Will, go ahead.
Will Healy: We have a digital dollar because almost every transaction happens electronically now. There's very few cash transactions anymore.
Hall: The difference you've got with the digital dollar is you don't have to have an intermediary. The transaction happens within moments. Now it's a digital transaction, but it goes over Visa (V +0.84%) or MasterCard's (MA +1.52%) rails or one of the other in between and the money floats around for a little while. It takes a while before the merchant gets it, like days or weeks sometimes. Then you return an item, you return a product, you want your money back, that's going to be a couple of weeks before you get that money back. The idea of a digital dollar, those things happen very close to instantaneously. I think when you're a small business owner, you're a restaurant, like managing your cash and your margins are so tight, being able to get that cash flow, moving it from weeks to days can be a huge difference in your chance to be a successful business. I think it could be really big for those businesses that aren't interested in crypto, but they're interested in whatever can help them maximize managing their cash in and out.
