New Senate bill sounds the alarm on China’s digital yuan

A new bill in the US Senate takes aim at China’s new central bank digital currency (CBDC).

On March 9, Senators Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) introduced the “Say No to the Silk Road Act,” with cosponsorship from seven other Republican senators.

“This bill holds China accountable as they introduce their new digital currency,” Cassidy said in a statement. 

The bill specifically calls on the Secretary of Commerce to produce a series of reports on China’s use of the digital yuan and particularly the expansion of its network into the United States. 

More immediate provisions include strict guidance limiting the use of the digital yuan on US government hardware and the requirement for governments receiving foreign military financing from the US to disclose their use of the digital yuan. 

Many players in the US government, particularly Republicans, view the digital yuan as a tool of Chinese surveillance that may also foster economic dependency in countries that adopt it. Moreover, they see it as a tool to undermine the global dominance of the US dollar.

The digital yuan’s grand opening for an international audience was during the Winter Olympics last month, which caused several Congresspeople to speak out against American athletes using the CBDC.