Cruz, GOP senators double down on anti-central bank digital currency legislation
China is one of 11 countries to fully implement a CBDC, using the digital yuan to track the spending habits of its citizens. Conservative lawmakers fear the green lighting of a digital dollar would give the Fed an open window into the private financial data of U.S. citizens and use it for mass surveillance and to influence monetary policy.
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While the Fed has made no decision on pursuing the implementation of a CBDC, the Biden administration has made CBDC research a top priority. Any anti-CBDC legislation is likely to be shut down if Biden remains in office.
Anti-CBDC messaging has also become a rallying point among Republican presidential candidates wishing to tap into voters’ opposition to government surveillance, and the GOP sees it as an increasingly important voter issue.
Former President Trump, who won the South Carolina primary on Saturday, told Fox News earlier this month that implementing a digital dollar would be “very dangerous,” claiming it could result in money suddenly disappearing from people’s bank accounts. He said in January that he would “never” allow the creation of a CBDC.
Former GOP presidential candidates Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy had similar messaging.
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Democrat-turned-Independent White House hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. called CBDCs “a calamity for human rights and for civil rights” in a Jan. 24 interview, vowing to end efforts to move toward a CBDC in the U.S.
