FedNow appears to be launching July 23, 2023. To me, it doesn't seem very good in the sense that the Fed now gets to be a middle man to payment transactions (sure it's "instant" but we're all aware that security != convenience).

It's also a "centralized" solution.

It could be a stepping stone to a centralized digital bank currency is my fear. And also the fed will now be able to see/monitor all transactions through it.