A lawmaker in the United States has presented a bill in Congress that would prohibit the Federal Reserve from distributing central bank digital currency (CBDC) directly to individuals.
Congressman Tom Emmer (MN-06) said on Wednesday that he has “filed a bill prohibiting the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) directly to individuals.”
Countries such as China, he noted, “develop CBDCs that essentially exclude the advantages and protections of currency.”
In contrast, he emphasised that the United States’ digital currency policy must guarantee financial privacy, preserve the dollar’s supremacy, and foster innovation. Otherwise, the Fed might “transform itself into a retail bank, acquire personally identifying information about individuals, and follow their transactions eternally,” according to the congressman.
He said, “any CBDC deployed by the Fed must be open, permissionless, and private.”
“In order to retain the dollar’s place as the world’s reserve currency in a digital era, it is critical that the United States lead with a posture that promotes innovation and does not attempt to compete with the private sector,” the congressman concluded.
Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve has yet to provide a report on its CBDC work, which it committed to do last year. Earlier this week, Fed Chair Jerome Powell stated that the report will be released “within weeks.”
