Anti-CBDC bill could curb Fed’s power over digital dollar, sponsor says

Representative Tom Emmer, the sponsor of the US House’s Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act, said the bill, if passed, would significantly limit the Federal Reserve’s ability to issue a central bank digital currency.

In a Friday press call, the Minnesota representative spoke on the progress of the Anti-CBDC bill, which he introduced in the House in March.

“If [the Fed] could emulate cash, then the law is going to afford them that ability, but right now, they can’t,” said Emmer on the US government issuing a CBDC. 

The bill was one of three — along with legislation to address payment stablecoins and digital asset market structure — that the chamber passed this month as part of Republicans’ “crypto week” plans, albeit with the least amount of support from Democrats in the House of Representatives. 

According to Emmer, the CBDC bill would allow any entity in the US government, including the Federal Reserve, to explore the development of a digital dollar, provided it emulated cash in specific ways and was “open, permissionless, and private.”

The text of the legislation amending the Federal Reserve Act to bar federal banks from issuing “any digital asset that is substantially similar” to a CBDC.

Of the three bills passed by the House on July 18, only the GENIUS Act to regulate stablecoins, having already passed the Senate, was by President Donald Trump. The Senate is expected to move forward with the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act on market structure and Emmer’s CBDC bill after the chamber returns from its August recess. 

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Though the CBDC bill will likely still be on the Senate’s radar come September, statements from Republican leaders suggested they would prioritize the CLARITY Act, expecting to have the bill before October.

Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis, chair of the Senate Banking Committee’s digital assets subcommittee, has been for the chamber to remain in session through August to address some of Trump’s nominations, including prospective Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Brian Quintenz.

A spokesperson for the senator told Cointelegraph that she would also help “execute the president’s agenda” during that time, signaling that she could also use the time to prepare the crypto market structure bill.

As of Monday, the Senate is still scheduled to go on recess Aug. 3.

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