An initiative to ban the U.S. Federal Reserve from issuing a government-run digital dollar was approved in a mostly bipartisan 89-10 vote in the Senate, but it is contained in a housing bill that could face headwinds in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The effort to ban a central bank digital currency (CBDC) has long been a favorite of Republican lawmakers, although the U.S. government never got beyond research into establishing a government token that could compete with privately issued stablecoins (and compete with other CBDCs being pursued by China and other jurisdictions). THE The ROAD to 21st Century Housing Act included an unrelated section that banned U.S. CBDCs until at least the end of 2030.
The section, in the last pages of the A 302-page bill advanced by the Senatestates that the Fed “may not issue or create a central bank digital currency or any digital asset substantially similar to a central bank digital currency, directly or indirectly through a financial institution or other intermediary.”
“Financial privacy is a cornerstone of American freedom, and any decision to authorize a central bank digital currency must remain within the purview of Congress and the American people,” Digital Chamber CEO Cody Carbone said in a statement. “We appreciate the Senate emphasizing that digital innovation in the United States must be led by the private sector while protecting individual freedom.”
But House lawmakers signaled they might force a second effort to the Senate version, which could disrupt the bill’s progress. A particular problem is that the Senate bill requires large investors in the US real estate sector, such as private equity firms, to strongly limit the number of houses they can own.
President Donald Trump has favored this concept himself — one of the few areas of overlap with Democratic lawmakers.
Although Trump has supported efforts to make housing more widely available in the United States, he recently said: he will not sign any invoice until Congress sent him legislation that would require voters to produce identification and proof of citizenship before voting in this year’s congressional midterm elections. The path forward for this initiative is unclear, adding to uncertainty for those advocating the housing bill and other efforts, including the crypto market structure bill known as the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act.
