Documents Referenced in MilitiaMan's Post Saturday 8-29-2020
KTFA:
Re: Militiaman’s Post “The GCR and QFS are Real and Underway”
Documents referenced in this post:
A Strategic Vision for America’s Quantum Networks
Product of the White House National Quantum Coordination Office
February 2020
INTRODUCTION
The Trump Administration is committed to American leadership in quantum information science (QIS), and to unleashing its incredible potential for U.S. economic growth, technological advancement, and national security.
To coordinate a national research effort encompassing Federal agencies, the academic community, and industry leaders already underway, The White House National Quantum Coordination Office has released A Strategic Vision for America’s Quantum Networks.
Exploring how to build the quantum internet—a vast network of quantum computers and other quantum devices—will catalyze new technologies that accelerate today’s internet, improve the security of our communications, and allow dramatic advances in computing. By leading the way in quantum networking, America is poised to revolutionize national and financial security, patient privacy, drug discovery, and the design and manufacturing of new materials, while increasing our scientific understanding of the universe.
Quantum computing and networking technologies are still at an early stage of research and development (R&D). The strategic vision focuses America’s R&D efforts to advance the development of foundations for the quantum internet. It establishes QIS community goals for quantum networking, and recommends six specific technical areas for focused research activity.
This strategic vision is driven by the National Quantum Initiative Act (NQIA), signed into law by President Trump in December 2018, to accelerate QIS R&D through increased federal investment and coordination. The strategy was developed through the NQIA’s coordinating bodies, the National Quantum Coordination Office (NQCO) and the National Science and Technology Council’s Subcommittee on Quantum Information Science (SCQIS) and reflects deep community input from SCQIS request for information responses of 2018-2019 and from recent workshops hosted by Federal agencies1,2.
Over the past year, as called for by the NQIA, The White House established the National Quantum Coordination Office to unify Federal R&D activities across government, and the National Quantum Initiative Advisory Committee to ensure perspectives from the quantum community inform Federal efforts. Additionally, to implement the NQIA, the National Science Foundation announced the Quantum Leap Challenge Institutes3 solicitation to explore foundational quantum science and technology, and the Department of Energy (DOE) announced funding for the creation of new QIS research centers4 where researchers from DOE’s National Labs will join with experts from academia and the private sector to advance R&D. This builds upon the robust QIS research programs, centers and consortia at other agencies including National Institute for Standards and Technology, the Department of Defense, the National Security Agency, and NASA.
In 1969, the Department of Defense’s Advanced Research Projects Agency demonstrated the first network (ARPANET) that led to the internet we know today. Back then, one could hardly imagine that it would become the world’s most powerful driver for economic growth and quality of life.
As demonstrated once by ARPANET and now by A Strategic Vision for America’s Quantum Networks and the NQIA, the Federal government has a critical role to play in driving early-stage QIS research and providing direction to national R&D efforts. Under the Trump Administration’s leadership, the United States will pioneer the quantum internet and ensure QIS discovery and innovation that benefits all Americans.
Service Details on Federal Reserve Actions To Support Interbank Settlement of Instant Payments
A Notice by the Federal Reserve System on 08/11/2020
AGENCY: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
ACTION: Service Announcement.
SUMMARY:
The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) has approved the FedNowSM Service as described in this announcement. The FedNow Service is a new interbank 24x7x365 real-time gross settlement service with clearing functionality to support instant payments in the United States. The new service will support banks' provision of end-to-end instant payment services and will provide infrastructure to promote ubiquitous, safe, and efficient instant payments in the United States.
DATES: September 10, 2020.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Kirstin Wells, Principal Economist (202-452-2962), Susan V. Foley, Senior Associate Director (202-452-3596), Division of Reserve Bank Operations and Payment Systems; Jess Cheng, Senior Counsel (202-452-2309), or Gavin Smith, Senior Counsel, Legal Division (202-452-3474), Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. For users of Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD), contact (202-263-4869.)
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Introduction
The payment system is a core part of our nation's infrastructure. For more than a century, the Federal Reserve has provided payment and settlement services to promote an accessible, safe, and efficient U.S. payment system.[1] Throughout its history, the Federal Reserve has provided these services alongside, and in support of, private-sector service providers.
The Federal Reserve Banks (Reserve Banks) fulfill this statutory role by offering services that provide core infrastructure for financial transactions, including check, automated clearinghouse (ACH), and funds transfer services.[2] This operational role provides key public benefits, including enhanced resiliency, healthy competition, increased innovation, and more equitable access.
Since the Federal Reserve does not have plenary regulatory or supervisory authority over payments, this operational role has also helped catalyze fundamental improvements in the nation's payment system.[3] This role in the payments system has allowed the Federal Reserve to advance its broader mission of providing the nation with a modern, safe, and effective financial system.
Consistent with this history, beginning in 2013 the Federal Reserve launched a collaborative initiative with a broad array of stakeholders to improve the speed, safety, and efficiency of the U.S. payment system.
As part of this initiative, the Federal Reserve and stakeholders identified the need for instant payment capabilities in the United States that would allow individuals and businesses to conduct and complete payments almost immediately, around the clock, every day of the year and provide a receiver with access to funds in seconds (instant payments).
[4] The ability to both send and receive funds instantly allows individuals and businesses greater flexibility and control to manage their money and make time-sensitive payments. This flexibility in turn may help alleviate mismatches between the time that incoming funds are available for use and the time that such funds are needed for other purposes.
For individuals, instant payments reduces the need for high-cost borrowing and the risk of associated penalties, such as overdraft or late fees.
Start Printed Page 48523Instant payments could be particularly helpful for individuals facing financial constraints or in times of crisis when there is heightened need to move money quickly and access funds almost immediately. For businesses, and in particular for small businesses, the ability to receive funds in near real time may result in better cash flow management in normal times, and this may be especially important in periods of stress. Instant payments may also provide businesses with considerable opportunity to improve efficiency and reduce costs of payments relative to paper checks and other existing payment methods.
In light of these and many other potential benefits, the Board and a broad set of stakeholders determined that a core infrastructure is essential to support the development and availability of instant payment services. In particular, stakeholders recommended that the Federal Reserve explore and assess the need for an operational role in instant payments and develop a 24x7x365 settlement service to support such payments.[5] This sentiment was echoed by the U.S. Treasury.[6] It was also supported by the vast majority of over 400 comments received by the Board in 2018 in response to a Board proposal of potential actions to support instant payments in the United States (the 2018 Notice).[7]
As a result of this extensive consultation with a wide variety of stakeholders, the Board announced via public notice in August 2019 (the 2019 Notice), that the Reserve Banks would develop the FedNow Service, a new interbank 24x7x365 real-time gross settlement (RTGS) service with integrated clearing functionality to support instant payments in the United States.[8] In making its decision, the Board concluded that the Federal Reserve's operation of such a 24x7x365 RTGS service would be the most effective approach to advance the Federal Reserve's and industry's objective of ubiquitous, safe, and efficient instant payments in the United States.
Consistent with the Federal Reserve's historical role in supporting payment system improvements, the Board concluded that the Reserve Banks' operation of the FedNow Service would support broader modernization of the nation's payment system as the industry moves towards instant payments.[9] Serving as an operator would also be consistent with the Federal Reserve's historical role as a provider of payment services alongside the private sector, which is currently the established model for almost every major payment system in the United States.[10]
An operational role for the Federal Reserve would also help ensure competition in the market—an outcome that the U.S. Government Accountability Office concluded benefits consumers in other payment systems.[11] Notably, over the course of the Federal Reserve's multiyear engagement with the industry on instant payments, only one private-sector RTGS service for instant payments has been established in the United States (the existing private-sector service).
The Board's analysis supporting the decision to develop the FedNow Service indicated that the existing private-sector service was likely to remain the sole private-sector provider of RTGS services for instant payments in the United States. The Board explained in the 2019 Notice that no traditional payment system in the United States has only a single private-sector provider, and that such an outcome would create significant risks to the safety and efficiency of the nation's payment system.
In particular, the Board explained that a single private-sector service would face significant challenges in establishing an accessible infrastructure for instant payments with nationwide reach, would result in limited competition that could have negative effects on pricing and innovation, and could create a single point of failure in the nation's instant payments infrastructure.
In light of these significant risks, the Board determined that an operational role would allow the Federal Reserve to advance a number of important objectives, including establishing an accessible nationwide infrastructure, fostering stability in times of crisis, supporting resiliency through redundancy, and stimulating healthy competition for clearing and settling instant payments.
Given their operational role in providing payment and settlement services, the Reserve Banks have established broad reach and invested in connections and customer service relationships with more than 10,000 diverse financial institutions, both small and large, across the country. This reach, in turn, will support the Federal Reserve's ability to provide a nationwide infrastructure for instant payments through the FedNow Service, furthering the goal of ubiquitous instant payments in the United States by connecting banks across the nation.[12]
As a result, banks of every size, in every community will have the ability to offer instant payment services to their customers, which is essential to their ability to meet evolving customer demands effectively. This, in turn, will ensure that individuals and businesses across the country have the ability to use such services regardless of geography.
The Federal Reserve has also historically played an important role in promoting the safety of the U.S. payment system by providing liquidity and operational continuity in times of crisis. Serving in an operational role in instant payments will allow the Federal Reserve additional capacity in the future to respond to financial turmoil, natural disasters, and other crises, as it has done in the past.
In addition, providing access to more than one RTGS service for instant payments for backup purposes will enhance resiliency by reducing the risks caused by a single point of failure.
The FedNow Service will also promote competition by providing choice of instant payment services in the market. Competition exists in nearly every payment system in the United States today, including funds transfers, ACH, checks, and card transactions. The Board's analysis indicated that choice in Start Printed Page 48524RTGS services for instant payments would likely result in efficiencies related to pricing, service quality, and innovation. Moreover, it will give banks and third-party service providers a neutral infrastructure to build on, allowing them to offer a variety of innovative and convenient instant payment services to individuals and businesses.
A. An Overview of the FedNow Service
The FedNow Service will be available to banks in the United States and will enable individuals and businesses to send instant payments any time of day, any day of the year through their bank accounts. An instant payment facilitated by the FedNow Service begins when a sender (that is, an individual or business) initiates a payment using a service provided by their bank, such as a banking application accessed on a computer, tablet, or mobile device.[13] After the sender's bank receives this request, it will send a message through the FedNow Service to the receiver's bank, with information about the payment.[14]
Upon receipt of this message, the receiver's bank will indicate whether it intends to accept the payment. If it intends to accept the payment, the receiver's bank will send a positive confirmation back, and upon receipt the FedNow Service will transfer the funds between the Federal Reserve accounts associated with the banks. Each bank will debit and credit their customer's account accordingly. The entire process is intended to take place in a matter of seconds, so the receiver will have funds available to use in near real time. Completed payments will be final, meaning they are irrevocable.[15]
From a technical perspective, the FedNow Service will be designed to maintain uninterrupted 24x7x365 processing with security features to support payment integrity and data security.
The FedNow Service will enable credit transfers that support a range of different types of payments for individuals and businesses, and will also support the transfer of supplemental information, such as invoices, related to a payment.[16] The service will have a 24-hour business day each day of the week, including weekends and holidays. End-of-day balances will be reported on Federal Reserve accounting records for each participating bank on each FedNow Service business day. Access to intraday credit will be provided to participants in the FedNow Service.[17]
Because instant payment services such as the FedNow Service process and settle each payment separately and continuously on a 24x7x365 basis, participants will need adequate funds or available credit (liquidity) in their accounts at all times in order to settle each payment.
In some circumstances, banks with account balances beyond their current needs may supply liquidity to those facing a shortfall. Typically, banks can use a service like the Fedwire® Funds Service to conduct such liquidity transfers. However, when those services are closed, participants in the FedNow Service or the existing private-sector service may need an alternative method to transfer liquidity.
To facilitate such transfers, the FedNow Service will provide a liquidity management tool to support instant payment services that will be a critical enabler not only of the FedNow service but also the existing private-sector service. The tool will enable participants in the FedNow Service to transfer funds to one another to support liquidity needs related to payment activity in the FedNow Service.
The tool will also support participants in a private-sector instant payment service backed by a joint account at a Reserve Bank by enabling transfers between the master accounts of participants and a joint account.[18] Access to the tool would be available to users regardless of whether they are full participants using the FedNow Service to send instant payments between end users or if they use the FedNow Service only to make liquidity transfers.[19] The tool will be available during specific hours, for example, when such transfers are not currently possible through other Federal Reserve services.
The Federal Reserve is committed to using widely accepted standards in designing the FedNow Service to aid in accomplishing the key goals of achieving nationwide reach for instant payments and promoting interoperability with the existing private-sector service. To support these goals, the service will use the widely accepted ISO 20022 standard and adopt other industry best practices, that would remove barriers to interoperability, in order to avoid unnecessary and burdensome incompatibilities, to the extent the existing private-sector service also uses publicly available, widely accepted standards.[20]
The Federal Reserve intends to launch the FedNow Service as soon as practicably possible.
Although the target release date remains 2023 or 2024, the Federal Reserve intends to announce a more specific time frame for launch, as well as earlier pilot programs, through established Reserve Bank channels once additional work is completed. This and other work related to the implementation of the FedNow Service is ongoing and includes development of the necessary infrastructure, integration with existing Federal Reserve systems, and continued engagement with industry stakeholders on features and design.
The Federal Reserve will take a phased approach to providing additional features and functionality over time. Although this may result in the introduction of certain desirable features after the initial release, this approach will ensure the core features Start Printed Page 48525and functionality are delivered as quickly as possible. The Board believes this approach most appropriately balances the competing demands for the Federal Reserve to launch the FedNow service quickly and to provide enhanced features beyond core capabilities.
Specifically, the first release of the FedNow Service will provide baseline functionality that will support market needs and help banks manage the transition to a 24x7x365 service. The first release will also offer additional optional features where there is high demand, such as fraud prevention tools, the ability to join initially as a receive-only participant, request for payment capability, and tools to support participants in their handling of payment inquiries, reconcilements, and certain exceptions. Other aspects of the service, such as fee structures and governing terms, will be announced prior to the launch of the service through established Reserve Bank communication channels.
The Federal Reserve also recognizes that market needs and technology related to instant payments are constantly evolving and intends to continue engaging with stakeholders and remain flexible in its approach when building out additional features and functionality of the FedNow Service.
Based on ongoing stakeholder engagement, additional features and service enhancements will be introduced over time. For example, the service will endeavor to offer additional features in the initial period following launch to support alias-based payments such as directories, as well as fraud prevention, error resolution, or case management tools.
Other features in the future might include support for bulk payments or enhanced remittance information. The Federal Reserve will continue to engage with stakeholders on these and other, more complex considerations, such as cross-border capability.
Other PDF documents referenced in this post difficult to copy:
Patent for BlockChain Voting System http://www.pat2pdf.org/patents.....258338.pdf
https://www.occ.gov/news-issuances/alerts/2020/alert-2020-3a.PDF