Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act
The Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act would make major changes to the Federal Reserve’s authority and its functions related to digital money. If enacted, the bill would prohibit Federal Reserve Banks from offering any products or services directly to individuals, prohibit them from maintaining individual bank accounts, and ban the issuance of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) or any digital asset substantially similar to a CBDC. It would also bar the Fed from indirectly providing CBDC to individuals through banks or other intermediaries. Additionally, the Act would bar testing, study, development, creation, or implementation of CBDC or similar digital assets for monetary policy, while preserving an exception for a private, privacy-protecting, open, dollar-denominated currency. Finally, it states, as a sense of Congress, that the Fed does not have authority to issue a CBDC absent a constitutional grant.
Key Points
- 1Prohibits Federal Reserve Banks from offering products or services directly to individuals, from maintaining individual accounts, or from issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) or substantially similar digital assets.
- 2Extends the prohibition to indirect issuance, forbidding the Fed from offering CBDC or similar digital assets to individuals through banks or other intermediaries.
- 3Amends the Federal Reserve Act to bar testing, development, creation, or implementation of CBDC, and to prevent CBDC’s use for monetary policy; includes a defined exception for a private, open, and permissionless dollar-denominated currency that preserves privacy.
- 4Provides a formal definition of “central bank digital currency” and clarifies that a related private, cash-like digital instrument could exist if it remains privacy-protecting.
- 5Includes a Sense of Congress stating the Fed lacks authority to issue CBDC absent a constitutional grant from Congress.