The Federal Reserve has announced that its developing FedNow Service, a real-time payments solution system, will become operational in July. To ensure a smooth launch, the Federal Reserve will begin the formal certification of participants in the first week of April, according to a recent report from the agency.

@federalreserve @frbservices announce July launch for the FedNow Service: https://t.co/a7kPqxkS7Q

— Federal Reserve (@federalreserve) March 15, 2023

Early adopters of the FedNow Service will complete a customer testing and certification program, which has been shaped by feedback from the FedNow Pilot Program, which gained public attention in mid-August of 2022, after a speech by Governor Michelle Bowman.

The certification process involves thorough testing, with specific expectations for operational readiness and network experience. In June, the Federal Reserve and certified participants will conduct production validation activities to verify readiness for the July launch.

Ken Montgomery, the first vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and FedNow program executive, expressed enthusiasm for the upcoming system, stating “we couldn’t be more excited about the forthcoming FedNow launch, which will enable every participating financial institution, the smallest to the largest and from all corners of the country, to offer a modern instant payment solution.”

Montgomery also encouraged financial institutions and their industry partners to make all necessary preparations for joining the FedNow Service.

The agency stated that several early adopters have already shown “intent” to begin using the FedNow offering once live, including “a diverse mix of financial institutions of all sizes, the largest processors, and the U.S. Treasury.”

Tom Barkin, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond and a FedNow Program executive sponsor, emphasized the significance of the launch, stating that “with the FedNow Service, the Federal Reserve is creating a leading-edge payments system that is resilient, adaptive, and accessible,” adding that “the launch reflects an important milestone in the journey to help financial institutions serve customer needs for instant payments to better support nearly every aspect of our economy.”

Based on the comments under the agency’s announcement via Twitter, however, most crypto-natives do not seem to be excited at the launch of the service — with several citing issues of financial privacy due to CBDCs and stating they’d rather use Bitcoin than a centralized system provided by the government.

Others criticized the pressure U.S. regulators have been applying towards banks in regard to relationships with Crypto-based companies, while they launch their own digital asset service simultaneously. This issue has not only come to the attention of the public but has also been addressed in the past by government officials like Senator Patrick Toomey.

At the time of writing, it would seem that FedNow does not have plans to utilize blockchain technology or a CBDC, as it has stated in the past that would take more time to develop. That being said, the agency has expressed that it will continue research in those areas, not ruling out future applications of the tech.

In other news, Circle’s $3.3 Billion USDC reserve at SVB purportedly free of risk.