It’s a digital currency issued by a central bank. Like paper currency, it represents a liability of the central bank. FedNow is just a service the Fed will be paid for. Also like paper currency, it’s a direct relationship between currency holders and the central bank, unmediated by other banks. FedNow is a service for banks.
Discussion
i agree with the below definitions and this is why the CBDC is now here:
"It’s a digital currency issued by a central bank" --> the dollar is a liability of the US (fed) central bank
"Like paper currency, it represents a liability of the central bank"-> dollar is a liability of the Fed
"FedNow is just a service the Fed will be paid for" --> CBDC requires instant settlement and this the function of FedNow. The dollar (a CBDC) now runs on FedNow
"Also like paper currency, it’s a direct relationship between currency holders and the central bank" --> as seen in the last few weeks the Fed guarantees all bank deposits and so all deposit holders now have a direct relationship with the Fed even if it seems like it is a relationship with their bank
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tether is the cbdc
usd is the base surveillance asset
Even if not perfect, GNU Taler may be a "better than nothing" system to at least not get the total surveillance CBDC stuff that governments are working on. Would need many more people to be aware of its existence and also care about surveillance, though.