The Interchange: Narrow Postal Banking or the Digital Dollar? Why not both?

Should access to payment networks and base level financial services inherently be a free public utility?

It's a question that continues to resurface not only across coverage of the world's push for greater financial inclusion but also a common theme in this column. While it's no secret U.S. payment systems have recently lacked the modernization that has taken place abroad, the recent inability by the U.S. government to widely execute its disbursement of stimulus payments through the CARES ACT, in a secure and timely fashion, now have policymakers warming up to the idea of exploring new digital tools to improve this process in the future.