US Congress Might Criminalize CBDC Issuance

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Ohio Republican Warren Davidson, US Representative for the House of Representatives, has recently called on Congress to ban, then criminalize, any attempts to design, build, refine, test, or launch a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).

Describing the technology as “a financial equivalent of the Death Star”, Davidson expressed his opinion that money should not be politicized by the government, as it is intended to be a stable store of value and meant for efficient, peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions.

This is not the only voice advocating for the regulation of cryptocurrency in the US this year.

March 2023 saw US Congressman Tom Emmer speak out against the digital dollar, introducing a bill to protect the financial privacy of citizens when using CBDC.

His Republican colleague, Senator Ted Cruz, also voiced his opinion in April, calling the launch of a national digital currency dangerous to society.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis promised to protect cryptocurrency during his election campaign in May, and Robert Francis Kennedy, Jr., another Republican candidate, vowed to make decisions that support bitcoin and its related technology.

Finally, in June, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong called the upcoming US elections an integral factor in regulating digital assets.