In the ongoing struggles for central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) in the United States, another Republican lawmaker has joined the war against it. Warren Davidson (Republican, Ohio) has spoken out against CBDCs, urging Congress to ban them and criminalize their development.
On Sunday, the lawmaker took to Twitter to share his opposition to CBDCs in a detailed tweet. Davidson stated that “money should not be programmable by a central authority,” while explaining the need to ban CBDCs into the nation.
Through his tweets, the lawmaker accused the Federal Reserve of taking autonomous charge into the monetary process. Davidson accursed the Federal Reserve of “building the financial equivalent of the Death Star,” stating that CBDCs corrupts money into a tool for coercion and control. Implying this reason to be the major force behind the reason to deny the entry to CBDC, he added:
Congress must swiftly ban then criminalize any effort to design, build, develop, test or establish a CBDC.
Responding to a comment on Twitter, Davidson argued that money should be a stable store of value, and should not be programmable by a central authority. His comments came in response to a position presented by San Francisco’s Federal Reserve Bank for a “senior crypto architect” to work on a CBDC project. The Republican lawmaker added:
Sound money should facilitate permission-less peer-to-peer transactions.
The Federal Reserve has been actively researching the technology for a potential digital dollar but has not made any decisions on whether to issue one. The possibility of a digital version of the U.S. Dollar has stirred controversy and concerns in the country and is expected to be a key talking point in the upcoming presidential election.
Additionally, Congressman Davidson is also not alone in his concern over a potential Fed-controlled digital Dollar. Recently, U.S. presidential candidate and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said he would “nix any central bank digital currency” if he became president.
However, he is not just spreading words and shows an intent to stand by his words. In May, DeSantis signed a bill restricting the use of CBDCs in the state. Notably, Republican lawmakers in general have been found to be against CBDCs while the Democrats do the opposite.
Alongside DeSantis,Republican Tom Emmer has also been vocal in his warnings over state-controlled digital money. In March, libertarian think tank the Cato Institute said a programmable CBDC would be “easily weaponized” as a spying tool to “choke out politically unpopular activity.”
To this, Emmer also put forth the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act in February to “halt efforts of unelected bureaucrats in Washington, DC from stripping Americans of their right to financial privacy.” The bill was endorsed by Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who introduced his own CBDC blocking bill in March. Remarkably, while nations across the globe are proceeding with their respective CBDC plans, the US is maintaining a cautious approach and the journey has met with several roadblocks.
Apart from these Republican lawmakers, Graham Steele, the Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions at the US Treasury Department also prioritised the need for privacy in CBDCs. Steele highlighted the importance of anonymity and privacy in the potential design of a CBDC, while acknowledging the need to combat illicit financial activities.