U.S. Congressman introduces bill to block CDBC roll out

United States Congressman Tom Emmer has introduced a new bill seeking to block the Federal Reserve (the Fed) from issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC). 

The bill dubbed ‘CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act’ seeks to protect U.S. citizens’ financial privacy,’ Emmer said in a tweet on February 222.

“Any digital version of the dollar must uphold our American values of privacy, individual sovereignty, and free market competitiveness. Anything less opens the door to the development of a dangerous surveillance tool,” Emmer said. 

The bill seeks to bar the Fed from issuing the digital dollar to anyone, alongside using a CBDC to implement monetary policy and control the economy. 

Furthermore, if the bill is passed into law, the House Majority Whip noted that the Fed should be transparent to Congress in the course of its CBDC project. Regarding pilot projects, the bill requires the Federal Reserve to brief Congress on a quarterly basis. 

Retaining U.S. position in tech world

The Congressman noted that the bill is part of maintaining America’s position as a leader in the technology space. 

“After all, America remains a technological leader not because we force innovations to adopt our values under regulatory duress but because we allow technology that holds these values at their core to flourish,” he added. 

Indeed, if the bill is successful, it will dent the hopes of the United States to roll out a CBDC, which has dominated the debate on crypto regulations. Notably, the Fed has not made it clear regarding unveiling CBDCs, but players in the sector view it as an ideal move to counter the growth of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC)and Ethereum (ETH). 

At the same time, Fed chair Jerome Powell stated that a CBDC pegged on the U.S. dollar would significantly sustain the dollar’s global dominance. Overall, more global jurisdictions are increasingly researching on CBDCs. 

This comes as the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco advertised the position of software developers to help research and design a CBDC.