US Republican Representative Warren Davidson has reiterated his stance against a central government bank digital currency (CBDC), claiming that they should be banned and criminalized.
In response to a job posting, from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, for a “senior crypto architect” to work on a CBDC project, Davidson accused the Federal Reserve of “building the financial equivalent of the Death Star.”
He urged the government to “promptly” ban and criminalize any activity related to the design, construction, development or testing of CBDCs.
“Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) corrupts money and turns it into a tool of coercion and control.”
In a separate Tweet, Davidson noted that money should not be programmable by a central authority and advocated the use of permissionless peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions instead of CBDC.
“Money should be a stable store of value and an efficient medium of exchange, not a tool for surveillance, coercion and control,” he said.
The congressman representing Ohio’s 8th district has spoken out against the development of CBDCs. In March, Davidson wrote a letter to Congress, urging his colleagues to fight CBDCs. He also pointed out that the government is favoring the use of state-owned CBDCs in private transactions as money, which will affect the privacy and freedom of US citizens in cash transactions.
Davidson had previously filed legislation to fire SEC Chairman Gary Gensler in April, citing a “long string of abuses” as his motivation.
The reach of the digital dollar is fading
The Federal Reserve has been actively involved in the investigation of a government-backed CBDC (digital dollar), which has stirred controversy in the country. However, he said that a CBDC would not be issued without authorization from Congress.
That said, like Davidson, a group of anti-CBDC politicians has emerged with the message that the digital dollar is something to fear. For example, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is running for the Republican nomination for president, forbidden the use of a “centralized digital dollar” in May.
“The move to establish a central bank digital currency is an attempt to police and control the finances of Americans. It would violate privacy, limit consumer choice and undermine market competitiveness,” DeSantis said at the time.
Additionally, Republican Tom Emmer has warned against state-controlled digital money, calling it a “weapon” to spy on US citizens. He also introduced a bill, the State Anti-CBDC Oversight Act, to prohibit the Federal Reserve from issuing a CBDC in the US, as well as to improve oversight of all CBDC-related work done at the Federal Reserve.
With a great deal of opposition from various US Houses of Representatives, a digital dollar seems less likely in the near future.
