Last Friday, the Treasury department released a framework for regulating digital assets. One major objective, according to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, is to "advance policy and technical work on a potential central bank digital currency, or CBDC."

The administration is pitching a CBDC as a way to improve the security and efficiency of electronic transactions. The real motive, however, may have more to do with improving the efficiency of collecting taxes.

All digital dollar transactions would be logged could potentially be traced back to individuals.

Anonymity? Forget about it.

In recent remarks, Fed chairman Jerome Powell stated that CBDC users would be "identity verified."

One proposed way in which digital dollars would be held and transferred is that everyone would have an individual account at the Fed itself.

There are currently some legal restrictions on the Fed being able to create cash accounts for individuals. Therefore, Fed officials have suggested that commercial banks and other financial institutions act as intermediaries in administering "Fedcoin."