On the heels of announcing that his committee planned to keep interest rates where they are for the time being, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told reporters that a central bank digital currency (CBDC) isn't currently being worked on in secret by the bank. 

"It's wrong to say that we're working on a CBDC and that we've secretly got a lab here, where we've got one, and we're just gonna spring it on Congress at the right moment. We don't," Powell said during a televised press conference on Wednesday. "I haven't at all, in my own mind, made a decision that I think this is something the U.S. should be doing."

Powell's comments echoed similar statements he's recently made to government officials. Earlier this month, Powell told the Senate Banking Committee the central bank was …